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Sl)c Unrurittcu Storn of 3.rmij £ifc 



IXCLUDING CHAPTERS ON 

ENLISTING, LIFE IN TENTS AND LOG HUTS, JONAHS AND BEATS, 

OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS, RAW RECRUITS, FORAGING, 

CORPS AND CORPS BADGES, THE WAGON TRAINS, 

THE ARMY MULE, THE ENGINEER 

CORPS, THE SIGNAL 

CORPS, ETC. 



By JOHN D. BILLING^ 

AUTHOR OF "the TENTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY " ; PAST DEPARTMENT COMMANDER 

MASSACHUSETTS G. A. R. ; FORMERLY OF SICKLES* THIRD AND HANCOCK's 

SECOND CORPS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 



llUistvatca 

WITH SIX ELEGANT COLOR PLATES; AND OVER TWO HUNDRED 
ORIGINAL SKETCHES BY 

CHARLES W. REED 

MEMBER OF NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY; ALSO, TOPOGRAPHICAL 

ENGINEER ON GENERAL WARREn's STAFF, FIFTH 

CORPS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 







^r'*o; 



BOSTON 

GEORGE M. SMITH & CO. 

1887 



6^f 



Copyright, 1887, 
By John D. Billings. 



Electrotvped 
By C. J. Peters and Son, Boston. 

BERWICK i SMITH, PRINTERS, BOSTON. 



DEDICATION. 



To my comrades of the Army of the Potomac who, it 
is believed, will find rehearsed in these pages much that 
has not before appeared in print, and which it is hoped will 
secure to their children in permanent form valuable infor- 
mation about a soldier's life in detail that has thus far 
been only partially written, this work is most affectionately 
dedicated by their friend, 

The Author. 



PREFACE. 



During the summer of 1881 I was a sojourner for a 
few weeks at a popular hotel in the White Mountains. 
Among the two hundred or more guests who were enjoying 
its reth-ement and good cheer were from twelve to twenty 
lads, varying in age from ten to fifteen years. When tea 
had been disposed of, and darkness had put an end to their 
daily romp and hurrah without, they were wont to take in 
charge a gentleman from Chicago, formerly a gallant soldier 
in the Army of the Cumberland, and in a quiet corner of 
the spacious hotel parlor, or a remote part of the piazza, 
would listen with eager attention as he related chapters of 
his personal experience in the Civil War. 

Less than two days elapsed before they pried out of the 
writer the acknowledgment that he too had served Uncle 
Sam ; and immediately followed up this bit of information 
by requesting me to alternate evenings with the veteran 
from the West in entertaining them with stories of the 
war as I saw it. I assented to the plan readily enough, 
and a more interested or interesting audience of its size 
could not be desired than that knot of boys who clustered 
around us on alternate nights , while we related to them in 
an offhand way many facts regarded as too commonplace 
for the general histories of the war. 

This trifling piece of personal experience led to the prep- 
aration of these sketches, and will largely account for the 
didactic manner in which they are written. They are far 
from complete. Many topics of interest are left untreated 
— they will readily suggest themselves to veterans; but it 



■vi P EFFACE. 

was thought best not to expand this volume beyond its 
present proportions. It is believed that what is herein 
written will appeal largely to a common experience among 
soldiers. In full faith that such is the case, they are now 
presented to veterans, their children, and the public as an 
important contribution of warp to the more majestic woof 
which comprises the history of the Great Civil War already 
written. That history, to date, is a history of battles, of 
campaigns and of generals. This is the first attempt to 
record comprehensively army life in detail ; in which both 
text and illustrations aim to permanently record information 
which the history of no other war has preserved with equal 
accuracy and completeness. 

I am under obligations to many veterans for kindly sug- 
gestions and criticisms during the progress of this work, to 
Houghton & Mifflin for the use of Holmes' "Sweet Little 
Man," and especially to Comrade Charles W. Reed, for his 
many truthful and spirited illustrations. The large number 
of sketches which he brought from the field in 1865 has 
enabled liim to reproduce with telling effect many sights 
and scenes once very familiar to the veterans of the Union 
armies, which cannot fail to recall stirring experiences in 
their soldier's life. 

Believing they will do this, and that these pages will 
appeal to a large number to whom the Civil War is yet 
something more than a myth, they are confidently put 
forth, the pleasant labor of spare hours, with no claim for 
their literary excellence, but with the full assurance that 
they will partially meet a want hitherto unsupplied. 

Cambridgeport, Mass., March 30, 1887. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

the tocsin of war. 

Page 
The Four Parties — Their Candidates — Freedom of Speech Abridged — 
Secession Decreed — Lincoln Elected — Oh, for Andrew Jackson! 
Exit Buchanan — "Long-heeled Abolitionists" and ''Black 
Republicans " — " Wide-awakes " and " Rail-splitters " — " Copper- 
heads " — The Misunderstanding — Northern Doughfaces — Loyal 
Men of All Parties Unite — The First Rally — Prepai-ation in the 
Bay State and in Other States — Her War Governor — Showing 
the White Feather — The Memorable Fifteenth of April — " The 
Sweet Little Man" — Parting Scenes — The Three-Months' Men . 15 



CHAPTER II. 

ENLISTING. 

The President's Error — " Three Years Unless Sooner Discharged" — 
How Volunteer Companies were Raised — Filling the Quotas — 
What General Sherman Says — Recruiting Offices — Advertisements 
for Recruits — A War Meeting in Roxbury — A Typical War 
Meeting in the Country — A Small-Sized Patriot — Signing the 
Roll — The Medical Examination — Off for Camp — The Red, 
White, and Blue 34 

CHAPTER III. 

HOW THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 

The Distinction Noted Between the Militia and the U. S. Volunteers — 
The Oath of Muster — Barracks Described — Sibley or Bell Tents — 
A or Wedge Tents — Spooning — Stockading — Hospital or Wall 
Tents — Dog or Shelter Tent Described — Chumming — Pitching 
Shelters — Stockaded Shelters — Fireplaces — Chimneys — Door 
Pl.ates— " Willard's Hotel"— " Hole in the Wall " —Mortars and 

3foi'tar Shelling before Petersbui-g 43 

1 



2 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

LIFE IN TENTS. 

Life in a Sibley — The Stove — The Pastimes — Postage Stamps as 
Money — Soldier's Letter — "Nary Eed" — Illustrated Envelopes 

— Army Reading — The Recluse — Evenings of Sociability — Pipe 
and Ring Making — Home Gossip — Music and the Contrabands — 
War Song Revived — The " Mud March" Prayer 61 

CHAPTER V. 

LIFE IN LOG HUTS. 

The Plan of a Camp — Inside a Stockade — The Bunks — The Arrange- 
ment of the Furniture — ^Esthetic Dish-washing — Lighting by 
Candles and Slush Lamps — Candlesticks — Night-Gowns and 
Night-Caps — The Shelters in a Rain — "I. C." Insect Life — 
Pediculus Vestimenti, the Old-time Grayback — Not a Respecter 
of Rank — The First Grayback Found — ( K ) nitting "Work — 
" Skirmishing" — Boiling Water the Sovereign Balm — Cleanliness 

— The Versatile Mess-Kettles — No Magee Ranges Supplied the 
Soldiers — Washerwomen — No " Boiled Shirts " — Darning and 
Mending — Government Socks — Cooks — Green Pine as Fuel — 
Camp Barbers — Future Tacticians 73 

CHAPTER VI. 

JONAHS AND BEATS. 

The Jonah as a Guardsman — A Midnight Uproar— "Put him in the 
Guard-house" — The Jonah Spills Pea-Soup, and Coffee, and 
Ink — Always Cooking — Steps on the Rails — Tableau — Jonah as 
a Wood-chopper — Beats — The Beat as a Fireman — Without 
Water, and Rations, and Money — His Letters Containing 
Money always Miscarry — Allotments — The Beat as a Guard 
Dodger — His Corporal Does the Duty — As a Fatigue Detail — 
Horse-Burying as a Civilizer for Jonahs and Beats — The Detail for 
the Burial — The Over-worked Man — The Rheumatic Dodge — 
The Sick Man — The Chief Mourner— The Explosive Man — The 
Paper-Collar Young Man — Forward, Grave-diggers! — Hurrah! 
Without the H 90 

CHAPTER VII. 

AIIMY KATIONS. 

Were They Adequate ? — Their Quality — A List of Them — What was 
Included in a Single Ration — What was a Marching Ration? — 



CONTEXTS. 3 

Officers' Allowance — The " Company Fund'" — "Hardtack" 
Described — Its Faults Three in Number — Served in Twentj' 
Different Ways — Song of the Hardtack — '* Soft Bread " — The 
Capitol as a Bake-house — The Ovens at Alexandria and Fort 
Monroe— Grant's Immense Bake-house at City Point — Coffee 
and Sugar — How Dealt Out — How Stored — Condensed Milk — 
Company Cooks — The Coffee-Dipper — The Typical Coffee-Boiler 

— Bivouac and Coffee — How the Government Beat the Speculators 

— How a Contractor Underbid Himself — Fresh Meat — How 
Served— Army Frying-Pans — Steak from a Steers Jaw-Bone — 
"Salt Horse" Not a Favorite Dish — Salt Pork and its Uses — 
The Army Bean — How it was Baked — Song of the Army Bean — 
Desiccated Vegetables — Tlie Whiskey Ration — A Suggestion as to 

the Inadequacy of the Marching Eation T08 

CHAPTER YIII. 

OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. 

The Offences Enumerated — "Back Talk'" — Absence from Camp 
without Leave — The Punishments — The Guard Tent — The 
Black List — Its Occupations — Buck and Gag — The Barrel 
and its Uses — The Crucifixion — The Wooden Horse — The 
Knapsack Drill — Tied up by the Thumbs — The Sweat-Box — 
The Placard — The Spare Wheel — Log-Lugging — Double Guard 

— The Model Regiment — Commanders often Tyrants by Nature. 
or from Effects of Rum, or Ignorance — A Regiment with 
Hundreds of Colonels — Inactivity Productive of Offences and 
Punishments — Kid-Glove Warfare — Drumming out of Camp — 
Rogue's March — Ball and Chain — Sleeping on Post — Desertion 

— Death of a Deserter Described — Death of a Spy Described — 
Bounty-jumpers — Amnesty to Deserters — Desertion to Enemy — 
Hanging of Three Criminals at Once for this Offence Described — 
Number of Executions in the AVar 143 

CHAPTER IX. 

A DAY IN CAMP. " ASSEMBLY OF BUGLERS." " TUKN OUT I " " ASSEMBLY." 

How the Men Came into Line — A Canteen Wash — The Shirks — "I 
Can't Get 'Em L'p" — '"AH Present or Accounted For '" — " Stable 
Call" — Kingly Cannoneers and Spare Horses — " Breakfast Call" 

— " Sick Call " — •• Fall In for Your Quinine " — Tlie Beats again 

— " Lack of Woman's Nursing" — "Water Call" — Where the 
Animals were Watered — Number of Animals in the Army — 
Scarcity of Water — "Fatigue Call" — What it Included — Army 
Stables — The Picket-Rope — Mortality of Horses — Scarcity of 
Wood — "Drill Call " — Artillery Drill — Standing Gun Drill — 



CONTENTS. 

Battery Manoeuvres — Sham Fights — DriUing by Bugle Calls — 
" Dinner Call " — " Retreat " — Scolding Time — " Assembly of 
Guard" — The Reliefs — Fun for the Corporal — Some of His 
Trials — " Next Tent Below " — " Tattoo " — Reminiscences — 
Taps — "Put out that Light!" — "Stop that Talking!" .... 164 



CHAPTER X. 

KAW KECRUITS. 

A Scrap of Personal History — A Parent's Certificate — The Lot of a 
Recruit — Abused by the Old Hands — Flush with Money — A 
Practical Joke — Two Classes of Recruits — The Matter-of-fact 
Recruit a Final Success — The High-toned Recruits — Their ioMcZ 
Uniform — Scoffers at Government Rations — As Hostlers — The 
Awkward Squad — The Decline in the Quality of Recruits — Men 
of '61-2 — Unschooled Soldiers — Hope Deferred — "One Last 
Embrace" — French Leave Furloughs — Life in Home Camp — 
Family Knots — A Mother's Fond Solicitude — Galling Lessons of 
Obedience — Bounties Paid Recruits — " I'm a Raw Recruit" — 
"The Substitute" 198 



CHAPTER XI. 

SPECIAL KATIONS. BOXES FROM HOME. 

Sending for a Box — A Specimen Address — A Typical List of Contents 
• — Impatience at its Non-arrival — Its Inspection at Headquarters 

— Its Reception at Camp — The Opening — Box-packing as an Art 

— The Whole Neighborhood Contributes — Soldiers Who Had No 
Boxes — The Box of the Selfish Man — His Onions — "We've 
Drank from the same Canteen" — The Army Sutler — His Stock- 
in-trade — His Prices — The Commissary — Army Fritters — 
Sutler's Pies — Sutler's Risks — Raiding the Sutler — What a Sutler 
Lost near Brandy Station — War Prices in Dixie 217 



CHAPTER XIL 

FORAGING. 

Strictly Prohibited at First — Two Reasons Why — The Right and 
Wrong of It — Innocent Sufferers — Unauthorized Foragers — The 
Destitution of Some Families — The Family Turnout — Wantonness 
at Fredericksburg — Authorized Foragers — Their Plunder — 
Foraging at Wilcox's Farm — Tobacco Foragers — The Cavalry in 
Their Role — The Infantry — Incidents — Risks Assumed by 
Foragers — Union Versus Confederate Soldier as a Forager . . . 231 



250 



CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER XIII. 

CORPS AND COKPS UADOES. 

Wliat was an Army Corps? -How the Army of the Potomac was 
Or-anized - Brigade and Division Formations -" All quiet along 
the Potomac " - " Why don't the Army move ?" -How Corps 
were Composed - Their Number -Corps Badges -Their Ongm 
-The Kearny Patch -Worn First by Officers, then by the 
Privates -Hooker's Scheme of Corps Badges -Its Extension to 
other Armies — The Badge of eacli Army Corps Described . . . 

CHAPTER XIV. 

SOME INVENTIONS AND DEVICES OF THE WAR. 

Improvements in Firearms -In War Vessels - Catch-penny Devices 
for the Soldiers — Combination Knife, Fork, and Spoon — Water 
Filterers- Armor Vests and Greaves - Havelocks - Revolvers and 
Dirk Knives — - High-toned " Haversacks — Compact Writing-desks 
Smoking-caps and the Turkish Fez -Hatter's Caps Versus Gov- 
ernment Caps -The Numbering and Lettering of Knapsacks - 
Haversacks and Canteens -How these Equipments Changed 

„ , 269 

Hands 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE ARMY MUI.E. 

Where Raised -Where the Government Obtained Them- What They 
were Used for -Compared with Horses — Mule Fodder— How a 
Mule Team was Composed -How it was Driven -How Mules 
were Obtained from the Corral - The Black Snake and its Uses - 
An Incident - Mule Ears - His Pastimes -As a Kicker the Origmal 
Muc'wump-What Josh Billings Knows about Him — His Kicking 
Ran-e— How He was Shod — The Mule as a Singer — Under the 
Pack-saddle - The Mule as a Stubborn Fact -His Conduct imder 
Fire -Captured Mules at Sailor's Creek -What Became of All the 
Mules ? - The Mule Mortal - " Charge of the Mule Brigade " . . 279 

CHAPTER XVI. 

HOSPITALS AND AMP.UI.ANCES. 

The First General Hospitals - The First Medical Director- Army 
Regulations Insufficient- Verdancy of Regimental Surgeons - 
Ho^spital Tents -The Origin of Field Hospitals in Tents -1 heir 
Capacity -No Ambulances before the War - Two-Wheeled and 



G CONTENTS. 

Foiir-Wheeled Ambulances — Organization of the Ambulance Corps 

— The Officers and Privates— The Outfit — Field Hospitals — 
Their Location — The Men in Charge — Captured Hospitals — A 
Paroled Prisoner — A Personal Reminiscence — Legs and Arms 
Unnecessarily Amputated — Anecdote of a Heavy Artilleryman — 
The Escort of the Wounded — The Insignia of the Ambidance Corps 

— A Personal Experience — Hospital Railway Trains and Steam- 
boats — The Cacolet 298 

CHAPTER XVII. 

SCATTERING SHOTS. THE CLOTHING. 

The Allowance — The Losses of Infantry — Clothing of Garrisons — 
First Maine Heavy Artillery — Their First Active Campaigning. 

— ArxMY Cattle — The Kind Referred to — Where They Came 
from — Wade Hampton as a Cattle-stealer — Cattle on the March 

— Their Route by Day and Night— The Sagacious Leader — The 
Slaughter — The Corps Herd — Heroic Horses — Their Conduct 
in Action — When Wounded— A Personal Reminiscence — 
Anecdote of General Hancock — Sagacious Horses 316 

CHAPTER XVIIL 

BREAKING CAMP. ON THE MARCH. 

Marching Orders — When They Came — What was Done at Once — The 
Survival of the Fittest — '"Waverly" Correspondents — The 
Night in Camp after Marching Orders Came — Camp Fires and 
Hilarity — "The General" — The Wait in Camp — Forward, 
March! — The Order of March — Corps Headquarters — Division 
Headquarters — The Division Flags Described — Brigade Head- 
quarters — Brigade Flags Described — Battle Flags — The Mule of 
Regimental Headquarters — His Company — Light Batteries — 
Lightening Loads — The Chafed and Footsore — Fording of Streams 

— The Same by Night — Personal Reminiscences — "Close up!" — 
Marching in a Rainstorm — Camping in a Rainstorm — Horses in 
the Rain and Sloughs — A Personal Reminiscence — Flankers — 

" Cohnnn, halt!" — Double quick!" — " They've found um" . 330 

CHAPTER XIX. 

ARMY WAGON TRAINS. 

Grant's Military Railroad — The Impedimenta — An Army Wagon — 
An Army Minstrel Troupe — The Transportation of a Regiment — 
What They Originally Carried — Baggage Trains on the Peninsula 

— Chaos Illustrated — The Responsibility of Train Officers — What 



CONTENTS. 7 

They had to Contend with — The Struggle for the Lead — Depot 
of Transportation — The Officers of tlie Quartermaster's Department 

— AVhat "Wagons Took Into the Wilderness — The Allowance on 
the Final Campaign — Incident — Early Order of McClellan — 
General Orders, No. 153 — The lieginning of the Supply Trains — 
What General Rufus Ingalls Did — Meade's General Orders, No. 83 

— Strength of a Corps Supply Train — Of the Army — Its Extent 

— Its Place on the March — A Keminiscence of the Race for 
Centreville — General Wadsvvorth's Bull Train — Its Rise and Fall 

— Trials of a Train Quartermaster — He Runs Counter to Meade 
and Sheridan in the Discharge of his Duty 35(1 

CHAPTER XX. 

ARMY ROAD AND BRIDGE BUILDERS. 

The Engineer Corps — Their Duties — Corduroying — Trestle Bridges 

— Slashing — Making of Gabions, etc. — As Pontoniers — Xerxes 
as an Early Pontonier — His Bridge over the Helles]3ont Described 

— Our Earliest Pontoon — Bridges of Canvas Boats ; of Wooden 
Boats — Pontoon Bridge Material Described — Balks, Bays, 
Chesses, Rack Lashings — Pontoon Train — Pontoon Bridge 
Building Described — Taking Up a Pontoon Bridge — The '62 
Bridge over the Chickahominy — Over the James — Pontoon Bridge 
Laying before Fredericksburg — The Stability of such Bridges — 
Incident — Life of an Engineer 377 

CHAPTER XXI. 

TALKING FLAGS AND TORCHES. 

Old Glory — Signal Flags — The Signal Corps — Its Use — Its Origin — 
The Kit — The Talking — The Code — A Signal Party —Sending 
a Message — Receiving a Message — The Torch — General Corse's 
Despatch — Signal Stations — Lookouts before Petersburg — 
"Which one?" — What Longstreet Said — What a Paper Corre- 
spondent Did — Reading the Rebel Signal Code — Signal Station at 
Poolesville, Md. — The Perils of Signal Men — Death of a Signal 
Officer — At Little Round Top — Anecdote of Grant 394 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1. General Grant reprimanded by a Lieutenant 

2. Rending- the Flag ....... 

3. A Bell-and-Everett Campaigner 

4. Southerners discussing the Situation 
0. A Lincoln Wide-Awake , , . . . 

6. '* Nayther av us" 

7. The Minute Man of '61 

8. Sweet Little Men of '61 

/ 9. Adjutant Hinks notifying Captain Knott V. Martin 

10. Captain [Martin's Companj' on its way to Faneuil Hall 

11. A Drum . 

12. A Dismounted Cavalryman ..... 

13. A War Meeting ....... 

U. A Bugle ......... 

15. On the Lookout ....... 

16 [Mustering in Recruits ..... 

17. Readville Barracks (from a photograph) 

18. Sibley Tents ........ 

19. A, or Wedge Tents ...... 

20. Spooning Together ..... 

21. The Hospital or Wall Tent .... 

22. Ofticer's Wall Tent with Fly ... 

23. The Dog or Shelter Tent . " . 

24. Shelters as sometimes Pitched in Summer . 

25. Shaded Shelters ....... 

26. A Ponclio on ....... . 

27. A Chimney on Fire ...... 

28. A common Bomb Proof 

29. A 13-inch i^Iortar 

30. A Bomb Proof in Fort Hell before Petersburg, V'a 

31. A Sleeping Soldier ... . . 

32. Two of a Kind ....... 

33. Sibley Tent — inside view ..... 

9 



Page. 

Fro7i(.ispiece 
15 
16 
17 
20 
21 
23 
27 
29 
31 
33 
34 
39 
42 
43 
44 
45 
46 
48 
49 
50 
51 
52 
53 
54 
55 
56 
57 
58 
59 
GO 
01 
62 



10 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



."U. Writing Home 

oo. Stockaded A Tents 

36. Drafting ...... 

o7. The Camp Minstrels . 

38. Our Silverware .... 

39. Building a Log Hut ... 

40. Inside View of a Log Hut . 

41. Army Candlesticks .... 

42. Pediculus Vestimenti 

43. (K)nitting Work .... 

44. "Turning Him Over" . 

45. Boiling Them ..... 
4(). A Wood-Tick ..... 

47. Cleaning Up ..... 

48. A Housewife . . . 

49. The Camp Barber .... 

50. The Musket on Hooks . 

51. " Beating It " . 

52. The Jonah Spilling Pea-Soup 

•i'S. The CamjJ Fire before the Jonah Appear 

54. The Camp Fire after tlie Jonah Appears 

.id. The Unlucky Man . . , , 

56. Going after Water .... 

57. The Rheumatic Dodge 

58. Water for the Cook-House 

59. The High-tempered Man . 

60. The Paper-collar Young Man 

61. The Mourners .... 

62. "Hurrah without the H"'' 

63. Off for the War .... 

64. The Cooper Shop, Philadelphia 

65. The Union Volunteer Saloon, Philadelphi 

66. A Brigade Connnissary at Brandy Statior 

67. A Hardtack — full size 

68. A Box of Hardtack 

69. Frying IIar<ltack .... 

70. An Army Oven ... 

71. Soft-Bread, Commissary Department Head 

of Potomac .... 

72. Apportioning Coffee and Sugar 

73. The Milk Ration ... 

74. The Company Cook 

75. Going into Camp .... 



Va. 



quarters. Army 



63 
66 

68 

70 

72 

73 

75 

77 

80 

81 

82 

83 

83 

84 

86 

88 

89 

90 

92 

93 

94 

95 

96 

100 

101 

104 

105 

106 

107 

108 

109 

111 

113 

114 

ik; 

117 
120 

121 
122 
125 

126 

127 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



n 



76. 

77. 

78. 

79. 

80. 

81. 

82. 

83. 

84. 

85. 

86. 

87. 

88. 

89. 

90. 

91. 

92. 

93. 

94. 

95. 

96. 

97. 

98. 

99. 
100. 
101. 
102. 
103. 
104. 
105. 
106. 
107. 
108. 
109. 
110. 
111. 
112. 
li:5. 
114. 
115. 
116. 
117. 
118. 



Broiling Steaks 
Mess-kettles and Mess-pans 
A Coffee-cooler 
A Ball and Chain Victim 
Carrying a Log 



Posted 

A Loaded Knapsack 

Isolated on a Platform 

On the Spare Wheel 

On a AVooden Horse .... 

In the Sweat-box .... 

On the Chines 

A Wooden Overcoat 

Strapped to a Stick .... 

Drumming out of Camp . 

Tied Up by the Thuml).-^ 

A Plan of the Troops at an Execution 

Death of a Deserter .... 

Digging a Sink .... 

Waiting for Headquarters 

A Canteen Wash .... 

Fall in for Roll-call .... 

At the Grain Pile .... 

"Fall in for your Quinine" 

The Picket-Rope .... 

Going to Water 

Stockaded Sibley Tents 

Taps ....... 

A Raw Recruit 

A Wood Detail 

Recruits in Uniform .... 
A Spare Man with Spare Horses 
Drilling the Awkward Scpiad . 

Drafted 

Indifterent to Consequences 

Opening a Box fi'om Home 

A Wagon-load of Boxes . 

We Drank from the same Canteen 

A Sutler's Tent (from a war-time photograph) 

Cooking Pancakes .... 

Serving out Rations at the Cook's Shanty 

Departed Joys ..... 



133 
136 

142 
143 
144 
146 
147 
148 
148 
149 
150 
151 
152 
153 
154 
155 
156 
158 
159 
163 
164 
166 
167 
170 
175 
176 
188 
192 
197 
198 
203 
205 
207 
208 
215 
216 
217 
220 
223 
225 
226 
228 
230 



12 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



119. Vis-a-vis ........ 

120. A Discovery, Act I. . . . . 

121. A Discovery, Act 11. ..... 

122. Going to Army Heaclquai'ters . . . • 

123. A Corn-Barn and Hayrick .... 

124. Tobacco Drying-Houses 

125. Scene at a Wayside Farm-House 

126. No Joke 

127. The Turkey He Didn't Catcli .... 

128. A Dilemma 

129. The Soldier's Friends 

130. Logan's Corps Badge ...... 

Jl^l. A Coloi'-plate of Corps Badges, opposite 

132. St. Andrew's Cross ...... 

^'133. A Color-jjlate of Corps Badges, opposite 

134. An original Ninth Corps Badge .... 

135. Eleventh and Twelfth Corps Badges combined 
-'136. A Color-jjlate of Corps Badges, oj^posite 

137. First and Fifth Corps Badges combined 

N'138. A Color-plate of Corjjs Badges, opposite . 

"' 139. A Color-plate of Corps Badges, opposite 

140. A Torpedo . . 

141. A (iunboat ....... 

142. A Mortar Boat 

143. A Double-turreted Monitor .... 

144. A I-Iaveloek 

145. A Haversack and Dipjjer .... 

146. A Zouave ........ 

147. A Breech-Loader ...... 

148. A Long-eared Patriot ...... 

149. A Six-Mule Team 

150. A Mule Eating an Overcoat .... 

151. A Corral 

152. Dismounted 

153. Oats for Six 

154. Dimiped into the Potomac 

155. The Rear-Guard of the Regiment . 

156. Mules Loaded with Ammunition 

157. "But the noblest thing that perished there wi 

old Army Mule" 

158. Charge of the Mule Brigade .... 

159. Loose 

160. A Cot in the Hospital 



that 



231 
233 
233 
236 
238 
239 
243 
246 
247 
248 
249 
250 
258 
259 
260 
261 
261 
262 
263 
264 
266 
269 
271 
272 
273 
276 
276 
277 
278 
279 
280 
281 
283 
284 
285 
288 
290 
292 

294 
295 
297 
298 



LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONS. 



13 



IGl. A Two-wheeled Ambulance 

162. A Four-wheeled Ambulance 

163. A Medicine Wagon .... 
164^ A Folding Litter 

165. A Stretcher 

166. Placing a Wounded ]\Ian on a Stretcher 

167. Carrying a Wounded Man to the Rear 

168. Tiying on Clothing 

169. In Heavy Marching Order 

170. Leading the Herd 

171. The Last Steer .... 
v\12. General Hancock at Ream's Station 

173. Real Horse Sense .... 

174. A Buzzard's Paradise . 

175. Striking Camp ..... 

176. Packing Up ..... 

177. W^aiting for Marching Orders . 

178. Color-plate of Second Corps Flags, opposite 

179. A Footsore Straggler .... 

180. " Headquarters " in Trouble .... 

181. The Flankers ...... 

182. A Halt of the Column .... 

183. A Wagon Park 

184. A Mule-Driver 

185. Wagon Train on a Pontoon Bridge 

186. Commissary Depot at Cedar Level 

187. A Mule-team under Fire .... 

188. The Bull Train 

189. General Meade and the Quartermaster . 

190. Old Cronies . . . . . 

191. Present Badge of Engineer and Pontonier Corps 

192. Corduroying ....... 

193. A Trestle Bridge, No. 1 . . - . 

194. A Trestle Bridge, No. 2 

195. A Large Gabion ...... 

196. Fascines 

197. Chevaux-de-frise 

198. Abatis 

199. The Fraise 

200. A Canvas Pontoon Boat 

201. An Angle of Fort Hell ..... 

202. A Wooden Pontoon 

203. A Pontoon Bridge at Belle Plain, Va. 



302 
305 
307 
309 
309 
311 
312 
316 
318 
322 
323 
325 
328 
329 
330 
332 
335 
340 
343 
345 
347 
348 
350 
352 
359 
365 
367 
369 
373 
376 
377 
378 
379 
380 
381 
381 
381 
382 
382 
384 
385 
387 
389 



14 LIHT OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

204. Poplar Grove Church 392 

205. Bridging the Ra])p:ihaiiiKX'k under Fire .... 393 

206. Signalling 394 

207. A Flagman, Plate 1 ........ 396 

208. A Flagman, Plate 2 , . 397 

209. A Flagman, Plate 3 ........ 397 

210. A Signal Tree-Top . 402 

211. A Signal Tower, before Petei'sburg, Va 403 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE TOCSIN OF WAll. 

A score of millions hear the cry 

And herald it abroad, 
To arms they fly to do or die 
For liberty and God. 

E. P. Dyek. 

And yet they keep gathering and marching away! 
Has the nation turned soldier — and all in a day ? 

There's the father and son! 

AVhile the miller takes gun 
With the dust of the wheat still whitening his hair ; 
Prav where are they going with tliis martial air ? 

F. E. Brooks. 

T the 6th of November, 1860, Abra- 
liam Lincoln, tlie candidate of 
the Republican party, was elected 
^ President of the United States, 
over three opponents. The au- 
tumn of that year witnessed the 
most exciting political canvass 
this country had ever seen. Tlie 
Democratic party, Avhich had been 
in power for several years in suc- 
cession, split into factions and nominated two candidates. 
The northern Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of 
Illinois, who was an advocate of the doctrine of Squatter 
Sovereignty, that is, the right of the people living in a Terri- 
torv which wanted admission into the Union as a State to 
^ 15 




16 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



decide for themselves whether they would or would not have 
slavery. 

The southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckenridge, 
of Kentucky, at that time Vice-President of the United 
States. The doctrine which he and his party advocated was 
the right to carry their slaves into every State and Territory 
in the Union without any hindrance whatever. Then there 
was still another party, called by some the Peace Party., 

which pointed to the Constitu- 
tion of the country as its guide, 
but had notliing to say on the 
great question of slavery, which 
was so prominent with the other 
parties. It took for its standard- 
bearer John Bell, of Tennessee ; 
and Edward Everett, of Massa- 
chusetts, was nominated as Vice- 
President. This party drew its 
membership from both of the 
otliers, but largely from the Dem- 
ocrats. 

Owing to these divisions the 
Republican party, which had not 
been in existence many years, 
was enabled to elect its candi- 
date. The Republicans did not 
intend to meddle with slavery 
where it then was. but opposed 
its extension into an}' new States 
and Territories. This latter fact was very well known to 
the slave-holders, and so the}^ voted almost solidly for John 
C. Breckenridge. But it was very evident to them, after the 
Democratic party divided, that the Republicans would suc- 
ceed, and so, long before the election actually took place, 
they began to make threats of seceding from the Union if 
Lincoln was elected. Freedom of speech was not tolerated 




A BELL ANr> EVKHETT CAM- 
PAIGNER. 



THE TOCSIN OF WAli. 



17 



in these States, and iiortlieru people who were down Soutli 
for business or pleasui-e, if tliey expressed opinions in oppo- 
sition to the popuhir political sentiments of that section, 
were at once warned to leave. Hundreds came North im- 
mediately to seek personal safety, often leaving jiossessions 
of great value behind them. Even native southerners who 




A GKOUI' OF SOUTIIKHNEUS DISCUSSING THE snTATION. 

believed thoroughly in the Union — and there were hun- 
dreds of such — were not allowed to say so. This class of 
})eople suffered great indignities during the war, on account 
of their loyalty to tlie old flag. Many of them were 
driven l)y irjsult and abuse to take up arms for a cause 
with which they did not sympathize, deserting it at the 



Ig EAED TACK AND COFFEE. 

earliest opportunity, while others held out to the bitter 
end, or sought a refuge from such persecution in the 
Union lines. 

As early as the 25tli of October, several southerners who 
were or had been prominent in politics met in South Car- 
olina, and decided by a unanimous vote that the State 
should withdraw from the Union in the event of Lincoln's 
election, which then seemed almost certain. Some other 
States held similar meetings about the same date. Thus 
early did the traitor leaders prepare the South for dis- 
union. These men were better known at that time as 
" Fire-eaters." 

As soon as Lincoln's election was announced, without 
waiting to see what his policy towards the slave States was 
going to be, the impetuous leaders at the South addressed 
themselves at once to the carrying out of their threats ; and 
South Carolina, followed, at intervals more or less brief, 
by Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and 
Texas, seceded from the Union, and organized what was 
known as the Southern Confederacy. Virginia, North Car- 
olina, Arkansas, and Tennessee seceded later. The people at 
the North stood amazed at the rapidity with which treason 
against the government was spreading, and the loyal Union- 
loving men began to inquire wdiere President Buchanan was 
at this time, whose duty it was to see that all such upris- 
ings were crushed out ; and " Oh for one hour of Andrew 
Jackson in the President's chair ! " was the common excla- 
mation, because that decided and unyielding soldier-Presi- 
dent had so promptly stamped out threatened rebellion in 
South Carolina, when she liad refused to allow the duties 
to be collected at Charleston. But that outbreak in its 
proportions was to this one as an infant to a giant, and it 
is quite doubtful if Old Hickory himself, Avith his prompt- 
ness to act in an emergency, could have stayed the angry 
billows of rebellion which seemed just ready to l^reak over 
the nation. But at any rate he would liave attemi3ted it, 



THE TOCSIN OF WAR. 19 

even if lie had o-one down in the tio'ht, — at least so thous'lit 
the people. 

The very opposite of such a President was James Bu- 
chanan, who seemed anxious only for his term of office to 
expire, making little effort to save the country, nor even 
willing, at first, that others should do so. With a traitor 
for his Secretary of War, the South had been well supplied 
with arms under the very nose of the old man. With a 
traitor for his Secretary of the Navy, our vessels — not many 
in number, it is true — had been sent into foreign waters, 
where they could not be immediately recalled. With a traitor 
as Secretar}' of the Treasury, the public treasury had been 
emptied. Then, too, there began the seizure of arsenals, 
mints, custom-houses, post-offices, and fortifications within 
the limits of the seceding States, and still the President did 
nothing, or worse than nothing, claiming that the South 
was wrong in its acts, but that he had no right to prevent 
treason and secession, or, in the phraseology of that day, 
"no right to coerce a sovereign State."' And so at last he 
left the office a disgraced old man. for whom few had or 
have a kind word to offer. 

Such, briefly, was the condition of affairs when Abraham 
Lincoln, fearful of his life, which had been threatened, en- 
tered Washington under cover of darkness, and quietly 
assumed the duties of his office. Never before were the 
people of this country in such a state of excitement. At 
the North there were a large number who boldly denounced 
the "Long-heeled Abolitionists"' and "Black Republicans" 
for having stirred up this trouble. I was not a voter at the 
time of Lincoln's election, but I had taken an active part 
in the torchlight parades of the " Wide-awakes " and " Rail- 
splitters," as the political clubs of the Republicans were 
called, and so came in foi- a share of the abuse showered 
upon the followers of the new President, x^s fresh deeds 
of violence or new aggressions against the government were 
reported from the daily papers in the shop where I was 



20 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



then employed, some one who was not a "Lincohiite" 
wouhl exchiim, in an angry tone ; " I hope you fellows are 
satisfied now. I don't blame the South an atom. They 
have been driven to desperation by such lunatics as Garri- 
son and Phillips, and these men ought to be hung for it." 
..." If there is a war, I hope you and every other Black 
Republican will be made to go and fight for the niggers all 
you want to." . . . "You like the niggers so well you'll marry 

one of them yet." . . . And, "I want 
to see those hot-headed Abolitionists 
put into the front rank, and sliot 
first." These are mild quotations 
from the daily conversations, had 
not only where I was employed, but 
in every other shop and factory in 
tlie North. Such Avordy contests 
were by no means one-sided affairs ; 
for the assailed, while not anxious 
for war, were not afraid of it, and 
were amply supplied with arguments 
with which they answered and en- 
raged their antagonists ; and if they 
did not always silence them, they 
drove them into making "just such 
ridiculous remarks as the foregoing. 
If I were asked who these men were, I should not call 
them by name. They were my neighbors and my friends, 
but they are changed men to-day. There is not one of 
them who, in the light of later experiences, is not heartily 
ashamed of his attitude at that time. Many of them 
afterwards went to the field, and, sad to say, are there 
yet. But this was the period of the most intemperate 
and abusive language. Those who sympathized with the 
South were, some montlis later, called Copperheads. Lin- 
coln and his party were reviled by these men without any 
restraint except such as personal shame and self-respect 




A LINCOLN Win?: AWAKE. 



THE TOCSIN OF WAR. 



21 



might impose ; and these qualities were conspicuously absent. 
Nothing was too harsh to utter against Republicans. No 
fate was too evil for their political opponents to wish them. 

Of course all of these revilers were not sincere in their 
ill-wishes, but the effect of their utterances on the commu- 
nity was just as evil ; and the situation of the new President, 
at its best a perplexing and 
critical one, was thus made 
all the harder, by leading 
him to believe that a multi- 
tude of the citizens at the 
North would obstruct in- 
stead of supporting him. 
It also gave the slave-hold- 
ers the impression that a 
very considerable number 
of northern men were ready 
to aid them in prosecuting 
their treasonable schemes. 
But now the rapid march of 
events wrought a change in 
the o])inions of the people 
in both sections. 

The leading Abolitionists 
had argued that the South 
was too cowardl}^ to light 
for slavery ; and the South 

had been told by the •' Fire-eaters " and its northern friends 
that the North could not be kicked into fighting ; that in 
case war should arise she would have iier hands full to keep 
her enemies at home in check. Alas I how little did either 
party understand the temper of the other ! How much 
like that story of the two Irishmen. — Meeting one day in 
the army, one says, " How are you, Mike ? " " How are 
you, Pat?" says the other. "But my name is not Pat," 
said the first speaker. " Nather is mine Mike," said the 




NAYTHEK AV US. 



22 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

second. '' Faix, thin," said the first, "it niusht be nayther 
of us." 

Nothing could better illustrate the attitude of the North 
and South towards each other than this anecdote. Notliing 
could have been more perfect than this mutual misunder- 
standing each displayed of the temper of the other, as tlie 
stride of events soon showed. 

The story of how Major Anderson removed liis little 
band of United States troops from Fort Moultrie to Foi-t 
Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, for reasons of greater safety, 
is a familiar one , likewise how the rebels fired upon a 
vessel sent by the President with supplies intended for 
it ; and, finally, after a severe bombardment of several 
days, how they compelled the fort to surrender. It was 
these events which opened the eyes of the '' Northern 
Doughfaces,'" as those who sympathized Avitli the South 
were often called, to the real intent of the Seceders. A 
change came over the spirit of their dreams. Patriotism, 
love of the Union, at last came uppermost. They had 
heard it proposed to divide the old flag, giving a part to 
each section. They had seen a picture of the emblem thus 
rent, and it was not a pleasing one. Soon the greater por- 
tion of them ceased their sneers and ill-wishes, and joined 
in the general demand that something be done at once to 
assert the majesty and power of tlie national government. 
Even President Lincoln, who, in his inaugural address, had 
counselled his '"• countrymen, one and all, to take time and 
think calmly and well upon this whole subject," had come 
to feel that further forbearance was no virtue, and that a 
decent respect for this great nation and for his office as Pres- 
ident demanded that something sliould be done speedily. 
So on the 15th of April he issued a proclamation calling 
out 75,000 militia, for three months, to suppress the Rebel- 
lion, and to cause the laws to be executed. 

Having been a Massachusetts soldier, it is but natural 
that I should refer occasionally to her part in the opening 



THE TOCSIN OF WAR. 



23 



of this momentous crisis in the country's liistory, us beino- 
more familiar to me than the record of any other State. 
Yet, proud as I am of her conspicuous services in the earl}^ 
war period, I have no desire to extol thein at the expense of 
Pennsylvania, New York, and Rhode Island, who so promptly 
pressed forward and touched elbows with her in this emer- 
gency ; nor of those other great Western States, whose sturdy 
patriots so promptly crossed Mason's 
and Dixon's line in such serried 
ranks at the summons of Father 
Abraham. 

It has often been asked how Mas- 
sachusetts, so much farther from the 
National Capital than any of the 
other States, should have been so 
prompt in coining to its assistance. 
Let me give some idea of how it 
happened. In December, 1860, Ad- 
jutant-General Schoulev of that 
State, in his annual report, sug- 
gested to Governor (afterwards 
General) N. P. Banks, that as 
events were then occurring which 
might require that the militia of 
Massachusetts should be increased 
in number, it would be well for 
commanders of companies to for- 
ward to head-quarters a complete roll of each company, 
with their names and residence, and that companies not 
full should be recruited to the limit fixed by law, which 
was then one hundred and one for infantry. Shortly after- 
wards John A. Andrew, now known in history as the Great 
War Governor of Massachusetts, assumed the duties of his 
office. He was not only a leading Re[)ublican before the 
war, but an Abolitionist as well. He seemed to clearly 
foresee that the time for threats and arsfuments had g-one 




TdE .MINITE JIAN OK '(il. 



24 IIAED TACK AND COFFEE. 

by, and that the time for action was at hand. So on the 
16th of January he issued an order (No. 4) which had for 
its object to ascertain exactly how many of the officers and 
men in the militia would hold themselves ready to respond 
immediately to any call wliich might be made upon their 
services by the President. All who were not ready to do 
so were discharged at once, and their places tilled by others. 
Thus it was that Massachusetts for the second time in her 
history prepared her " Minute Men " to take the field at a 
minute's notice. 

This general order of the Governor's, although a very 
wise one as it proved, carried dismay into the ranks of the 
militia, for there were in Massachusetts, as in other States, 
very many men who had made valiant and well disciplined 
peace, soldiers, who, now that one of the real needs of a 
well organized militia was upon us, were not at all thirsty 
for further military glory. But pride stood in the way of 
their frankness. They were ashamed in this hour of their 
country's peril to withdraw from the militia, for they feared 
to face public opinion. Yet there were men who had good 
and sufficient reasons for declining to pledge themselves for 
instant military service, at least until there was a more 
general demand for troops. They were loyal and worthy 
citizens, and could not in a moment cast aside or turn their 
back on their business or domestic responsibilities, and in 
a season of calmer reflection it would not have been ex- 
pected of them. But the public pulse was then at fever- 
heat, and reason was having a vacation. 

General Order No. 4 was, I believe, the first important 
step taken by the State in preparing for the crisis. The 
next was the passage of a bill by the Legislature, which was 
approved by the Governor April 3, appropriating $25,000 
for " overcoats, blankets, knapsacks, 200,000 ball cartridges, 
etc., for two thousand troops." These supplies were soon 
ready. The militiamen then owned their uniforms, and, as 
jio particular kind was prescribed, no two companies of the 



THE TOCSIN OF WAR. 25 

same regiment were of necessity uniformed alike. It is 
only a few years since uniformity of dress has been re- 
quired of the militia in Massachusetts. 

But to return to that memorable 15th of April. War, 
that much talked-of, much dreaded calamity was at last 
upon us. Could it really be so ? We would not believe 
it ; and yet daily happenings forced the unwelcome conclu- 
sion upon us. It seemed so strange. We had nothing in 
our experience to compare it with. True, some of us had 
dim remembrances of a Mexican war in our early childhood, 
but as Massachusetts sent onl}^ one regiment to that war, 
and that saw no fighting, and, besides, did not receive the 
sympathy and support of the people in the State generally, 
we only remembered that there was a Scott, and a Taylor, 
and a Santa Ana, from the colored prints we had seen dis- 
played of these worthies ; so that we could only run back 
in memory to the stories and traditions of the wars of the 
Revolution and 1812, in which our ancestry had served, for 
anything like a vivid picture of what was about to occur, 
and this, of course, was utterly inadequate to do the subject 
justice. 

I have already stated that General Order No. 4 carried 
dismay into many hearts, causing the more timid to with- 
draw from military service at once. A great many more 
would have withdrawn at the same time had they not been 
restrained by pride and the lingering hope that there would 
be no war after all ; but this very day (the 15th) came 
Special Order No. 14, from Governor Andrew, ordering the 
Third, Fourth, Sixth, and Eighth Regiments to assemble on 
Boston Common forthwith. This was the final test of the 
militiamen's actual courage and thirst for glory, and a 
severe one it proved to many of them, for at this eleventh 
hour there was another fallinsc-out along the line. But the 
moment a man's declination for further service was made 
known, unless his reasons were of the very best, straight- 
way he was hooted at for his cowardice, and for a time his 



26 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

existence was made quite unpleasant in his own immediate 
neighborhood. If he had been a commissioned officer, his 
face was likely to appear in an illustrated paper, accom- 
panied by the statement that he had "shown the white 
feather," — another term for cowardice. A reference to 
any file of illustrated papers of those days will show a 
large number of such persons. Such gratuitous advertising- 
by a generally loyal, though not always discreet press did 
some men gross injustice; for, as already intimated, many of 
the men thus publicly sketched and denounced were among 
the most worthy and loyal of citizens. A little later than 
the period of winch I am treating, Oliver Wendell Holmes 
wrote the following poem, hitting off a certain limited class 
in the community : — 

THE JSWEET LITTLE MAX. 

Dedicated to the Stay-at-Hoiiie liuiiyers. 

Now while our soldiers are fighting our battles, 

Each at his post to do all that he can, 
Down among Rebels and contraband chattels, 

What are you doing, my sweet little man? 

All the brave boys under canvas are sleeping; 

All of them pressing to march with the van. 
Far from the home where their sweethearts are weeping; 

What are you waiting for, sweet little man? 

You with the terrible warlike moustaches. 

Fit for a colonel or chief of a clan, 
You with the waist made for sword-belts and sashes, 

Where are your shoulder-straps, sweet litt'e man? 

Bring him the buttonless garment of woman! 

Cover his face lest it freckle and tan; 
Muster the Apron-string Guards on the Common,— 

That is the corps for the sweet little man! 

Give him for escort a tile of young misses, 

Each of them armed with a deadly rattan; 
They shall defend him from laughter and hisses, 

Aimed by low boys at the sweet little man. 



THE TOCSIN OF- WAB. 



27 



All the fair maidens about him shall cluster. 
Pluck the white feather from bonnet and fan, 

Make him a plume like a turkey-wing duster, — 
That is the crest for the sweet little man. 

Oh, but the Apron-string Guards are the fellows! 

Drilling each day since our trouble began, — 
'Handle your walking-sticks!" " IShoulder umbrellas!" 

That is the style for the sweet little man. 




SWEET LITTLK SIEN OF 'Gl. 

Have we a nation to save? In the first place 

Saving ourselves is the sensible plan. 
Surely, the spot where there's shooting's the worst place 

Where I can stand, says the sweet little man. 



Catch me confiding my person with strangers, 
Think how the cowardly Bull-Runners ran ! 

In the brigade of the Stay-at-home Rangers 
Marches my corps, says the sweet little man. 



28 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

Such was the stuff of the Malakoff takers, 
Such were the soldiers that scaled the Redan; 

Truculent housemaids and bloodthirsty Quakers 
Brave not the wrath of the sweet little man! 

Yield him the sidewalk, ye nursery maidens I 

Sauve qnlpeut! Bridget, and Right about! Ann; — 

Fierce as a shark in a school of menhadens, 
See him advancing, the sweet little man! 

When the red flails of the battlefield's threshers 
Beat out the continent's wheat from its bran, 

While the wind scatters the chaffy secesliers. 
What will become of our sweet little man? 

When the brown soldiers come back from the borders. 
How will he look while his features they scan? 

How will he feel when he gets marching orders. 
Signed by his lady love ? sweet little man. 

Fear not for him though the Rebels expect him, — 
Life is too precious to shorten its span; 

Woman her broomstick. shall raise to protect him. 
Will she not fight for the sweet little man ! 

Now, then, nine cheers for the Stay-at-home Ranger! 

Blow the great fish-horn and beat the big pan! 
First in the field, that is farthest from danger. 

Take your white feather plume, sweet little man! 



The 16th of April was a memorable day in the histor}' of 
the Old Bay State, — a day made more uncomfortable by the 
rain and sleet which were falling with disagreeable constancy. 
Well do I remember the day. Possessing an average amount 
of the fire and enthusiasm of youth, I had asked my father's 
consent to go out with Company A of the old Fourth Keg- 
iment, which belonged to my native town. But he would 
not give ear to any such "'nonsense," and, having been 
brought up to obey his orders, although of military age 
(18), I did not enter the service in the first rally. This 
company did not go with full ranks. There were few that 
did. Several of my shopmates were in its membership. As 



THE TOCSIN OF WAR. 



29 



those of lis who remained gatliered at the windows that 
stormy forenoon to see tlie company go by, the siglit filled 
us with tlie most gloomy forebodings. 

So the troops went forth from the towns in the shore 
counties of Massachusetts. Most of the companies in the 
regiments that were called reported for duty at Boston this 




ADJUTANT HINKS NOTIFYING CAPTAIN KNOTT V. JIAKTIN. 



very 16th — two companies from Marblehead being the first 
to arrive. One of these companies was commanded by Cap- 
tain Knott V. Martin, who was engaged in slaughtering hogs 
when Adjutant (now Major-General) E. W. Hinks rode up 
and instructed him to report on Boston Common in the 
morning. Drawing the knife from the throat of a hog, the 
Captain uttered an exclamation which has passed into his- 
tory, threw the knife with a light toss to the floor, went im- 



30 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

mediately and notified his Orderly Sergeant, and then re- 
turned to his butchering. In the morning he and his com- 
pany were ready for business. 

But their relatives who remained at home could not look 
calmly on the departure of these dear ones, who were going- 
no one knew just where, and would return — perhaps never; 
so there were many touching scenes witnessed at the various 
railway stations, as the men boarded the trains for Boston. 
When these Marblehead companies arrived at that city the 
enthusiasm was something unprecedented, and as a new de- 
tachment a})peared in the streets it was cheered to the echo 
all along its line of march. The early months of the war 
were stirring ones for Boston ; for not only did the most of 
the Massachusetts regiments march through her streets en 
route for the seat of war, but also the troops from Maine 
and New Hampshire as well, so that a regiment halted 
for rest on the Common, or marching to the strain of 
martial music to some railway station, was at times a daily 
occurrence. 

It has always seemed to me that the '• Three months 
men '" have never received half the credit which the worth 
of their services to the country deserved. The fact of their 
having been called out for so short a time as compared with 
the troops that came after them, and of their having seen- 
little or no fighting, places them at a disadvantage. But to 
have so suddenly left all, and gone to the defence of the 
Capital City, with no knowledge of what was in store for 
them, and impelled by no other than the most patriotic of 
motives, seems to me fully as praiseworthy as to have gone 
later under the pressure of urgent need, when the full stress 
of war was upon us, and when its realities were better 
known, and the inducements to enlist greater in some other 
respects. There is no doubt whatever but what the prompt 
appearance of these short-term men not only saved the Caj)- 
ital, but tlxat it served also to show the Rebels tliat the 
North at short call could send a large and comparatively 



THE TOCSIN OF WAB. 



33 



well equipped force into the field, and was ready to back 
its words by deeds. Furthermore, these soldiers gave the 
government time to catch its breath, as it were, and, looking 
the issue squarely in the face, to decide upon some settled 
plan of action. 




CHAPTER 11. 




ENLISTING. 

O, did you see liirn in the street' dressed up in army blue, 
When drums and trumpets into town their storm of music threw — 
A louder tune than all the winds could muster in the air, 
The Rebel winds that tried so hard our flag in strips to tear? 

Lucy Larcom. 



ARDLY liad the ''Three months men" 
reached the fiehl before it was discov^- 
ered that a mistake had been made in 
not calling out a larger number of 
troops, and for longer service ; — it 
took a long;' time to realize what a si- 
gantic rebellion we had on our hands. 
So on the 3d of May President Lin- 
coln issued a call for United States 
volunteers to serve three years, unless 
sooner discharged. At once thousands of loyal men sprang 
to arms — so large a number, in fact, that many regiments 
raised Avere refused until later. 

The methods by which these regiments were raised 
w'ere various. In 1861 a common way was for some one 
who had been in the regular army, or perhaps who had 
been prominent in the militia, to take the initiative and 
circulate an enlistment paper for signatures. His chances 
were pretty good for obtaining a commission as its captain, 
for his active interest, and men wdio had been prominent in 
assisting him, if they were popular, would secure tlie lieu- 
tenancies. On the return of the " Three months " troops 
many of the companies immediately re-enlisted in a body 
for three years, sometimes under their old officers. A large 

34 



EJVLISTIXG. 35 

number of these short-term veterans, throngli influence at 
the various State capitals, secured commissions in new reg- 
iments that were organizing. In country towns too small to 
furnish a comi)any, the men would post off to a neighboring 
town or city, and there enlist. 

In 1862, men who had seen a year's active service were 
selected to receive a part of the commissions issued to new 
organizations, and should in justice have received all within, 
the bestowal of governors. But the recruiting of troops 
soon resolved itself into individual enlistments or this pro- 
gramme ; — twenty, thirty, fifty or more men would go in a 
body to some recruiting station, and signify their readiness 
to enlist in a certain regiment provided a certain specified 
member of their number should be commissioned captain. 
Sometimes they would compromise, if the outlook was not 
promising, and take a lieutenanc}^ but equally often it was 
necessary to accept their terms, or count them out. In the 
rivalry for men to fill up regiments, the result often was 
officers who were diamonds in the rough, but liber all}' inter- 
mingled with veritable clod-hoppers whom a brief experience 
in active service soon sent to tlie rear. 

This year the War Department was working on a more 
systematic basis, and when a call was made for additional 
troops each State was immediately assigned its quota, and 
with marked promptness each city and town was informed 
by the State authorities how many men it was to furnish 
under that call. The war fever was not at such a fervid heat 
in '62 as in the year before, and so recruiting offices were 
multiplied in cities and large towns. These offices were of 
two kinds, viz. : those which were opened to secure I'ccruits 
for regiments and batteries already in the field, and those 
which solicited enlistments in new organizations. Unques- 
tionably, at this time the latter were more popular. 

The former office was presided over by a line officer di- 
rectly from the front, attended by one or two subordinates, 
all of whom had smelled powder. The latter office miglit 



36 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

be in charge of an experienced soldier recently commis- 
sioned, or of a man ambitious for such preferment. 

The flaming advertisements with which the newspapers of 
the day teemed, and the posters j^asted on the bill-boards or 
the country fence, were the decoys which brought patronage 
to these fishers of men. Here is a sample : — 

More 3Iassac7ius€tts Volunteers Accepted ! ! I 



Three Regiments to be Immediately Recruited ! 



GEN. WILSON'S EEGIMENT, 
To which CAPT. POLLETT'S BATTEEY is attached ; 
COL. JONES' GALLANT SIXTH EEGIMENT, 

WlUCn WEST " TIIUOfGH BALTIMORE"; 

THE N. E. GUAEDS EEGIMENT, commanded by that 
excellent officer, MAJOE J. T. STEVENSON. 



The undersigned has this day beon authorized and direoted tr> fill up the 
ranks of these reginu-nts furthwith. A grand (iiii>i>rtuiiity is atforded for 
patriotic persons to enlist in tlie service of their country under the coni- 
mand of as able officers as the country has yet furnished. Pay and 
rations will begin immediately on enlistment. 

UNIFORMS ALSO PROVIDED! 

Citizens of Massachusetts should feel pride in attaching themselves to 
regiments from their own State, in order to maintain the proud supremacy 
which the Old Bay State now enjoys in the contest for the Union and the 
Constitution. The people of many of the towns and cities of the Com- 
monwealth have made ample provision for those joining the ranks of the 
army. If any person enlists in a Company or Regiment out of the Com- 
monwealth, lie cannot share in the bounty which has beer thus liberally 
voted. Wherever any town or city has assumed the privilege of support- 
ing the families of Volunteers, the Commonwealth reimburses such place 
to the amount of §12 per month for families of three persons. 

Patriots desiring to serve the country will bear in mind that 

THE GENERAL RECRUITING STATION 

TS AT 

No. 14 FITXS STREET, BOSTON ! 

WILLIAM W. BULLOCK, 

General Recruiting Officer, Massachusetts Volunteers. 

[Boston Journal of Sept. 12, 1861.] 



ENLISTING. 37 

Here is a call to a war meeting held out-of-doors : — 
TO ARMS ! TO ARMS I ! 

GREAT WAR MEETING 

IN ROXBURY. 

Anotlier meeting of the citizens of Roxbury, to re-enforce their brothers 
in the Held, will be held in 

ELIOT SQUARE, ROXBURY, 
THIS EVENINGS ^T EI&HT O'CLOCK. 

SPEECHES FROM 

Paul Willard, Rev. J. O. Means, Judge Russell, 

And other eloquent advocates. 
The Brigade Band will be on hand early. Coiue one, come all ! 

God and your Country Call ! ! 

Per Order. 
[Boston Journal of July 30, 1862.] 



Here are two which look quite business-like : — 

GENERAL POPE'S ARMY. 



** Lynch Law for Guerillas and No Rebel 
Property Guarded!^' 

IS THE MOTTO OF THE 

SECOND MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT. 

»578.50 for 21 months' service. 
S252.00 State aid for families of four. 
S830.50 and short service. 
$1*^5.00 cash in hand. 

Tliis Regiment, although second in number, Is second to none in regard 
to discipline and efficiency, and is in the healthiest and most delightful 
country. 

Office at Coolidge House, Bowdoin Square. 

UAPT. C. R. MUDGE. 
LIEUT. A. D. SAWYER. 



38 JIAIU) TACK AND COFFEE. 

$100 BOUNTY! 



C^DET REGIiVd:E:NrT, 

Company D, 

NINE MONTHS' SERVICE. 

O. "W. PEABODY .... Recruiting Officer. 

Headquarters, 113 Washington Street, Boston. 

[Boston Journal, Sept. 17, 1862.] 

War meetings similar to the one called in Roxbiiry were 
designed to stir lagging enthusiasm. Musicians and orators 
blew themselves red in the face with their windy efforts. 
Choirs improvised for the occasion, sang "Red, White, and 
Blue " and " Rallied 'Round the Flag " till too hoarse for 
further endeavor. The old veteran soldier of 1812 was 
trotted out, and worked for all he was worth, and an occa- 
sional Mexican War veteran would air liis nonchalance at 
grim-visaged war. At proper intervals the enlistment roll 
would be presented for signatures. There was generally 
one old fellow present who upon slight provocation would 
yell like a hyena, and declare his readiness to shoulder his 
musket and go, if he wasn't so old, while his staid and half- 
fearful consort would pull violently at his coat-tails to re- 
press his unseasonable effervescence ere it assumed more 
dangerous proportions. Then there was a patriotic maiden 
lady who kept a flag or a handkerchief waving with only 
the rarest and briefest of intervals, who " would go in a min- 
ute if she was a man." Besides these there was usually a 
man who would make one of fifty (or some other safe num- 
ber) to enlist, when he well understood that such a number 
could not be obtained. And there was one more often found 
present who when challenged to sign would agree to, p7-o- 
vided that A or B (men of wealth) would put down their 
names. I saw a man at a war meeting promise, with a 
bombastic flourislunent. to enlist if a certain number (which 



ENLISTING. 41 

I do not now remember) of the citizens Avould do the 
same. The number was obtained ; but the small-sized 
patriot, who was willing to sacritice his ivife's relations on 
the altar of his country, crawled away amid the sneers of 
his townsmen. 

Sometimes the patriotism of such a gathering would be 
wrought up so intensely by waving banners, martial and 
vocal music, and burning eloquence, that a town's quota 
Avould be filled in less than an hour. It needed only the 
first man to step forward, put down his name, be patted on 
the back, placed upon the platform, and cheered to the echo 
as the hero of the hour, when a second, a third, a fourth 
would follow, and at last a perfect stampede set in to 
sign the enlistment roll, and a frenzy of enthusiasm would 
take possession of the meeting. The complete intoxication 
of such excitement, like intoxication from liquor, left 
.some of its victims on the following day, especiall}' if the 
fathers of families, witli the sober second thought to 
Avrestle with ; but Pride, that tyraniucal master, rarely let 
them turn back. 

The next steji was a medical examination to determine 
physical fitness for service. Each town had its physician 
for this work. The candidate for admission into the army 
must first divest himself of all clothing, and his soundness 
or unsoundness was then decided by causing him to jump, 
bend over, kick, receive sundry thumps in the chest and 
back, and such other laying-on of hands as was thought 
necessary. The teeth had also to be examined, and the eye- 
sight tested, after which, if the candidate passed, he received 
a certificate to that effect. 

His next move was toward a recruiting station. There he 
would enter, signify his errand, sign the roll of the company 
or regiment into which he was going, leave liis descri[)tion, 
including height, complexion, and occupation, and then ac- 
company a guard to the examining surgeon, where he was 
again subjected to a critical examination as to soundness. 



42 IIAED TACK AND COFFEE. 

Those men who, on deciding to "go to war," went directly to 
a recruiting office and enlisted, had but this simple examina- 
tion to pass, the other being then unnecessary. It is interest- 
ing to note that in 1861 and '62 men were mainly examined to 
establish their fitness for service ; in 1863 and '64 the tide 
had changed, and they were then only anxious to prove their 
wdltuess. 

After the citizen in question had become a soldier, he was 
usually sent at once to camp or the seat of war, but if he 
wanted a short furlough it was generally granted. If he had 
enlisted in a new regiment, he might remain weeks before 
being ordered to the front ; if in an old regiment, he might 
find himself in a fight at short notice. Hundreds of the men 
who enlisted under the call issued by President Lincoln 
July 2, 1862, were killed or wounded before they had been 
in the field a week. 

Any man or woman who lived in those thrilling early war 
days will never forget them. The spirit of patriotism was 
at fever-heat, and animated both sexes of all ages. Such 
a display of the national colors had never been seen before. 
Flag-raisings were the order of the day in public and private 
grounds. The trinity of red, white, and blue colors was 
to be seen in all directions. Shopkeepers decked their 
windows and counters with them. Men wore them in neck- 
ties, or in a rosette pinned on the breast, or tied in the 
button-hole. The women wore them conspicuously also. 
The bands played only patriotic airs, and " Yankee Doodle," 
" Red, White, and Blue," and the " Star-Spangled Banner " 
would have been worn threadbare if possible. Then other 
patriotic songs and marches were composed, many of which 
had only a short-lived existence ; and the poetry of this 
})eriod, some of it excellent, would fill a large volume. 




CHAPTER III. 

HOW THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 

The heath this night must he my bed, 
The hraclcen curtain for my head, 
My lullaby the warder's tread, 

Far, far from love and thee, Mary. 
To-morrow eve, more stilly laid. 
My couch may be my bloody plaid, 
My vesper song, thy wail, sweet maid. 

It will not waken me, Mary. 

Lady of the Lake. 




FTER eijlistment, what? This deed 
done, the responsibility of the citi- 
zen for himself ceased in a measure, 
and Uncle Sam took him in charge. 
A word here to make clear to the 
uninformed the distinction between 
the militia and the volunteers. The 
militia are the soldiers of the State, 
and their duties lie wholly within 
its limits, unless called out by the 
President of the United States in 
an emergency. Such an emergency occurred when Presi- 
dent Lincoln made his call for 75,000 militia, already alluded 
to. The volunteers, on the other hand, enlist directly into 
the service of the United States, and it becomes the duty of 
the national government to provide for them from the very 
date of their enlistment. 

Before leaving the State these volunteers were mustered 
into service. This often occurred soon after their enlistment, 
before they had been provided with the garb of Union 
soldiers. 

43 



44 



IIAIiD TACK AND COFFEE. 



The oath of muster, wliich they took with uplifted hand 
ran as follows : — 

" I, A J^ , do solemnly swear that I will bear true 

allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will 
serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies 
and opposers whatsoever, and observe and obey the orders of 
the President of the United States, and the orders of the 
officers appointed over me according to the rules and articles 
for the 2'overnment of the armies of the United States." 




MUSTKHING IN RECRUITS. 



The provision made for the shelter of these troops before 
they took the field was varied. Some of them were quar- 
tered at Forts Warren and Independence while making 
ready to depart. But the most of the Massachusetts volun- 
teers were quartered at camps established in different parts 
of the State. Among the earliest of these were Camp An- 
drew, in West Roxbury, and Camp Cameron, in North Cam- 
bridge. Afterwards camps were laid out at Lynnfield, Pitts- 
field, Boxford, Readville, Worcester, Lowell, Long Island, and 
a few other places. The " Three-months militia " required 



HOW THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 



45 



no provision for their shelter, as they were ordered away 
soon after reporting for duty. Faneuil Hall furnished quar- 
ters for a part of them one niijht. The First Massachusetts 
Eegiment of Infantry quartered for a week in i* aneuil Hall ; 
but, this not being a suitable place for so large a body of men 
to remain, "on the first day of June the regiment marched 
out to Cambridge, and took possession of an old ice-house on 
the borders of Fresh Pond, wliich had been procured by the 
State authorities and partially fitted up for barracks, and 




'':T^'. 



^i3 



KEADVILLE (MASS.) IJAKKACKS. 

From n PliotograpJi. 



established their first camp." But this was not the first 
camp established in the State, for three years' troops had 
already been ordered into camp on Long Island and at Fort 
Warren. 

Owing to the unhealthiness of the location selected for the 
First Regiment, their stay in it was brief, and a removal was 
soon had to North Cambridge, where, on a well-chosen site, 
some new barracks had been built, and, in honor of Presi- 
dent Lincoln's Secretary of War, had been named "Camp 
Cameron."' 

Barracks then, it will be observed, served to shelter some 
of the troops. To such as are not familiar with these struc- 
tures, I will simply say that they were generally a long one- 



46 



HAET) TACK AND COFFEE. 



storied building not unlike a bowling-alley in proportions, 
having the entrance at one end, a broad aisle running 
through the centre, and a double row of bunks, one above 
the other, on either side. They were calculated to hold one 
company of a hundred men. Some of these buildings are 
still to be seen at Readville, Mass., near the old camp- 
grounds. But while barracks were desirable quarters in 




SIBLEY TENTS. 



the cooler weather of this latitude, and sheltered many regi- 
ments during their stay in the State, a still larger number 
found shelter in tents prior to their departure for the held. 
These tents were of various patterns, but the principal 
varieties used were the Sibley, the A or Wedge Tent, and 
the Hospital or Wall Tent. 

The Sibley tent was invented by Henry Sibley, in 1857. 
He was a graduate of the United States military academy 
at West Point, and acconii^anied Capt. John C. Fremont on 



now THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 47 

one of his exploring expeditions. He evidently got his idea 
from the Tepee or Tepar., — the Indian wigwam, of poles 
covered with skins, and having a fire in the centre, — which 
he saw on the plains. When the Rebellion broke out, Sibley 
cast in his fortune with the South. He afterwards attained 
the rank of brigadier-general, but performed no services so 
likely to hand down his name as the invention of this tent. 
It has recently been stated that Sibley was not the actual 
inventor, the credit being assigned to some private soldier 
in his command. On account of its resemblance to a huge 
bell, it has sometimes been called a Bell Tent. It is eighteen 
feet in diameter and twelve feet high, and is supported by a 
single pole, which rests on an iron tripod. This pole is the 
exact radius of the circle covered by the tent. By means 
of the tripod the tent can be tightened or slackened at 
pleasure. At the toji is a circular opening, perhaps a foot 
in diameter, which serves the double purpose of ventilation 
and of passing a stove-pipe through in cool weather. This 
stove-pipe connected with a cone-shaped stove suited to this 
shape of tent, which stood beneath the tripod. A small 
piece of canvas, called a m/?, to which were attached two 
long guys, covered the opening at the top in stormy weather. 
It was not an unusual sight in the service to see the top of 
one of these tents in a blaze caused by some one having 
drawn the cap too near an over-heated stove-pipe. A chain 
depended from the fork of the tripod, with a hook, on which 
a kettle could be hung ; when the stove was wanting the fire 
was built on the ground. 

These tents are comfortably capacious for a dozen men. 
In cold or rainy weather, when every opening is closed, they 
are most unwholesome tenements, and to enter one of them 
of a rainy morning from the outer air, and encounter the 
night's accumulation of nauseating exhalations from the 
bodies of twelve men (differing widely in their habits of 
personal cleanliness) was an experience which no old soldier 
has ever been known to recall with anv great enthusiasm. 



48 



JIARL' TACK AND COFFEE. 



Of course the air was of the vilest sort, and it is surprising- 
to see ]io\v men endured it as they did. In the daytime 
these tents were ventihited by lifting tliem up at the bottom. 
Sibley tents went out of field ^ service in 1862, partly 
because they were too expensive, but principally on account 
of being so cumbrous. They increased the amount of im- 
pedimenta too largely, for they required many wagons for 
their transportation, and so were afterwards used only in 

camps of instruc- 
tion. I believe 
they are still used 
to some extent by 
tlie militia of the 
various States. I 
remember having 
seen these tents 
raised on a stock- 
ade four feet high 
by some regiments 
during the war, 
and thus arrang- 
ed they made very 
spacious and com- 
fortable winter quarters. When thus raised they accom- 
modated twenty men. The camp for convalescents near 
Alexandria, Va., comprised this variety of tent stockaded. 

The A or Wedge tents are yet quite connnon. The origin 
of this tent is not known, so far as I can learn. It seems to 
be about as old as histor}^ itself. A German historian, who 
wrote in 1751, represents the Amalekites as using them. 
Nothing simpler for a shelter could suggest itself to campers 
than some sort of awning stretched over a horizontal pole or 
bar. The setting-up of branches on an incline against a low 
liorizontal l:)ranch of a tree to form a rude shelter may have 
been its earliest suggestion. But, whatever its origin, it is 
710W a canvas tent stretched over a hoi'izontal bar, perhaps 




A, OK WEDGE TENTS. 



HOW THE SOLDIERS WEllE SHELTERED. 



49 



six feet long, which is siipi)orted on two upright posts of 
about the same length. It covers, when pitched, an area 
nearly seven feet square. The name of these tents is 
undoubtedly derived 
from the fact of the 
ends having the pro- 
portions of the Ro- 
man letter A, and be- 
cause of their resem- 
blance to a wedge. 

Four men was the 
number usually as- 
signed to one of 
them ; but they were 
often occupied by 
five, and sometimes 
six. When so oc- 
cupied at night, it 
was rather necessary 
to comfort that all 
should turn over at 
the same time, for 
six or even live men 
were a tight fit in the 

space enclosed, unless ''spooned" together. These tents 
when stockaded were quite spacious and comfortable. A 
word or two just here with regard to stockading. A stockade 
proper is an enclosure made with posts set close together. 
In stockading a tent the posts were split in halves, and the 
cleft sides all turned inward so as to make a clean and comely 
inside to the hut. But by far the most common way of log- 
ging up a tent was to build the walls " cob-fashion," notch- 
ing them together at the corners. This method took much 
less time and material tlian the other. But whenever I use 
the word stockade or stockading in any descri})tions T include 
either method. I shall speak further of stockading by and by. 




SPOONING TOGETHER. 



50 



HAIW TACK AND COFFEE. 



The A tents were in quite general use by the State and 
also by the general government the first two years of the 
war, but, like the Sibley, they required too much wagon 
transportation to take along for use in the field, and so they 
also were turned over to camps of instruction and to troops 
permanently located in or near important military centres or 
stations. 

The Hospital or Wall tent is distinguished from those 
already described by having four upright sides or walls. To 




THK HOSPITAL OR WALL TKNT. 



this fact it probably owes the latter name, and it doubtless 
gets the former from being used for hospital purposes in the 
field. These tents, also, are not of modern origin. They 
were certainly used by Napoleon, and probably long before 
his day. On account of their walls they are much more 
comfortable and convenient to occupy than the two preced- 
ing, as one can stand erect or move about in them with tol- 
erable freedom. They are made of different sizes. Those 
used as field hospitals were quite large, accommodating from 
six to twenty patients, according to circumstances. It was a 
common occurrence to see two or more of these joined, being 
connected by ripping the central seam in the two ends that 
came in contact. By looping back the flaps thus liberated, 



nO]V THE SOLDIERS WEliE SHELTER EU. 



51 




the tents were thrown together, and quite a commodious 
hospital was in that way opened with a central corridor 
running its entire length between a double row of cots. 
The smaller size of wall tent was in general use as the 
tent of commissioned officers, and so far as I now recall, was 
used by no one else. 

While the Army of the Potomac was at Harrison's Land- 
ing, under McClellan, he issued a General Order (Aug. 
10, 1862) prescribing 
among other things 
wall tents for general 
field and staff officers, 
and a single shelter 
tent for each line offi- 
cer ; and the same 
order was reissued by 
his successors. But 

in some way many okkkek'.s wall tent with fly. 

of these line officers 

managed to smuggle a wall tent into the wagon train, so 
that when a settled camp was entered upon they were pro- 
vided with those luxurious shelters instead of the shelter tent. 

Over the top an extra piece of canvas, called a fli/, was 
stretclied as additional protection against sun and rain. 
These tents are generally familiai". Massachusetts now pro- 
vides her militia with them, I believe, without distinction of 
rank. 

The tents thus far described I have referred to as used 
largely by the troops before they left the State. But there 
was another tent, the most interesting of all, which was used 
exclusively in the field, and that was Tente d'Ahri — the Dog 
or Shelter Tent. 

Just why it is called the shelter tent I cannot say, unless 
on the principle stated by tlie Rev. George Ellis for calling 
the pond on Boston Common a Frog Pond, viz : because there 
are no frogs there. So there is little shelter in this variety 



52 



HA 111) TACK AND COFFEE. 



of tent. But about that later. I cau imagiue uo other reason 
for calling it a dog tent than this, that when one is pitched it 
would only comfortably accommodate a dog, and a small one 
at that. This tent was invented late in 18<)1 or early in 
1862. I am told it was made of light duck at first, then of 
rubber, and afterwards of duck again, but /never saw one 
made of anything heavier than cotton drilling. This was 
fJie tent of the rank and file. It did not come into general 

use till after the 
Peninsular Cam- 
paign. Each man 
was provided with 
a half-shelte)\ as a 
single piece w;is- 
called, which he 
was expected to 
carry on the march 
if he wanted a tent 
to slee}) under. I 
will describe these 
more fully. One I recently measured is five feet two inches, 
long by four feet eight inches wide, and is provided with a 
single row of buttons and button-holes on three sides, and a 
pair of holes for stake loops at each corner. A single half- 
shelter, it can be seen, would make a yery contracted and 
uncomfortable abode for a man ; but every soldier was ex- 
pected to join his resources for shelter with some other fel- 
low. It was only rarely that a soldier was met witii who was- 
so crooked a stick that no one would chum with him, or that 
he cared for no chum, although I have seen a few such cases 
in my experience. But the rule in the army was similar to 
that in civil life. Every man had his chum or friend, with 
whom he associated when off duty, and these tented tcjgether. 
By mutual agreement one was the "old woman," the other the 
''old man" of the concern. A Marblehead man called his chum 
his "chicken," more especially if the latter was a you7ig soldier.. 




THE ixk; ok shei.tek tent. 



nO]V THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 



53 



B}' means of the buttons and l)iitt(.)n-lioles two or more 
of these lialf-shelters could be buttoned together, making 
a very complete roofing. There are hundreds of men that 
came from different sections of tlie same State, or from 
different States, who joined their resources in this manner, 
and to-day through this accidental association they are the 
warmest of personal friends, and will continue so while 
tliey live. It was not usual to pitch these tents every 
night wlien the army was on the march. The soldiers 
did not waste their time and strength much in that way. 
If the night was clear and pleasant, they lay down with- 
out roof-shelter of any kind : but if it was stormy or a 
.storm was threaten- 
ing when the order 
came to go into 
camp for the night, 
the slielters were 
then quite gener- 
ally pitched. 

This operation 
was performed by 
the infantry in the 

following simple Avay • two muskets with bayonets fixed were 
stuck erect into the ground the width of a half shelter 
apart. A guy rope which went with every half-shelter was 
stretclied between the trio-o-er-o-uards of the muskets, and 
over this as a ridge-pole the tent was pitched in a twinkling. 
Artillery men pitched theirs over a horizontal bar supported 
by two uprights. This framework was split out of fence- 
rails, if fence-rails were to be had conveniently ; otherwise, 
saplings were cut for the [)urpose. It often happened that 
men would throw away their shelters during the day, and 
take their cliances with the weather, or of finding cover in 
some barn, or under the brow of some overhanging rock, 
rather than be burdened with them. In summer, when the 
army was not in proximity to the enemy, or was lying 




SHELTERS AS .SOIMETIJIES PITCHEU IN SUJIMEK. 



54 



HAIW TACK AND COFFEE. 




SHADED SHELTERS. 



off recuperating, as the Army of the Potomac did a few 
weeks after the Gettysburg campaign, they would pitch 
their shelters high enough to get a free circulation of air 
beneath, and to enable them to build bunks or cots a foot 
or two above the ground. If the camp was not in the 

woods, it was com- 
S^i£s^*^^"vi.ji^r mon to build a bow- 

er of branches over 
the tents, to ward 
off the sun. 

When cold weath- 
er came on, the sol- 
diers built the stock- 
ades to which I have 
already referred. 
The walls of these 
structures were 
raised from two to live feet, according to the taste or work- 
ing inclination of the intended occupants. Oftentimes an 
excavation was made one or two feet deep. When such 
was the case, the walls were not built so high. Such 
a hut was warmer than one built entirely above ground. 
The size depended upon the number of the proposed 
mess. If the hut was to be occupied by two, it was 
built nearly square, and covered by two half-shelters. 
Such a stockade would and often did accommodate three 
men, the third using his half-shelter to stop up one 
gable. When four men occupied a stockade, it was built 
accordingly, and covered by four half-shelters. In each 
case these were stretched over a framework of light 
rafters raised on the walls of the stockade. Sometimes 
tlie gables were built up to the ridge-poles with smaller 
logs, bu t just as often they were filled by an extra half- 
shelter, a rubber blanket, or an old poncho. An army 
ponclio, I may here say, is specified as made of unbleached 
muslin coated with vulcanized India-rubber, sixty inches 



HOW THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 



55 



wide and seventy-one inches long, having an opening in 
the centre lengthwise of the poncho, through which the 
head passes, with a lap three inches wide and sixteen 
inches long. This garment is derived from the woollen 
poncho worn by the Spanish- Americans, but is of different 
proportions, these being four feet by 
seven. The army poncho was used in , , ' / 

lieu of the gum blanket. 

The chinks between the logs were 
filled with mud, worked to a viscous 
consistency, which adhered more or less 
tenaciously according to the amount of 
clay in the mixture. It usually needed 
renewing after a severe storm. The 
chimney was built outside, after the 
southern fashion. It stood sometimes 
at the end and sometimes in the middle 
of one side of the stockade. It started 
from a fire-place which was fashioned 
with more or less skill, according to the 
taste or mechanical genius of the work- 
man, or the tools and materials used, 
or both. In my own company there 
were two masons- who had opportuni- 
ties, whenever a winter camp was pitched, to practise 
their trade far more than they were inclined to do. 
The fire-places were built of brick, of stone, or of wood. 
If there was a deserted house in the neighborhood of the 
camp which boasted brick chimneys, they were sure to be 
brought low to serve the Union cause in the manner indi- 
cated, unless the house was used by some general officer 
as headquarters. When built of wood, the chimneys were 
lined with a very thick coating of mud. They were o-en- 
erally continued above the fireplace with split wood built 
cob-fashion, which was filled between and lined with the red 
clayey soil of Virginia , but stones were used when abundant. 




A PONCHO ON. 



56 



IIABD TACK AND COFFEE. 



Very frequently pork and beef barrels were secured to 
serve this purpose, being put one above another ; and now 
and then a lively hurrah would run through the camp 




wiien one of these was dis- 
covered -on fire. It is hardly 
necessary to remark that not 
all these chimneys were mon 
uments of success. Too often the draught was down instead 
of up, and the inside of some stockades resembled smoke- 
houses. Still, it was " all in the three years,'" as the boys 
used to say. It was all the same to the average soldier, 
who rarely saw tit to tear down and build anew more 



HOW THE SOLDIERS WEliE SHELTERED. 



57 



scieiitificuUy. The smoke of his camp-fires in warm weather 
was an excellent pi'eparative for the smoking fireplace of 
winter-quarters. 

Many of these huts were deemed incomplete until a sign 
appeared over the door. Here and there some one would 
make an attempt at having a door-plate of wood suitably 
inscribed ; but the more common sight was a sign over 
the entrance bearing such inscriptions, rudely cut or 
marked with charcoal, as: "Parker House," "Hole in the 
Wall," " Mose Pearson's," " Astor House," "Willard's Hotel," 
" Five Points," and other titles equally absurd, expressing 
in this ridicu- 
lous way the va- 
garies of the 
inmates. 

The last kind 
of shelter I shall 
mention as used 
in the field, but 
not the least in 
importance, was 
the Bomb-proofs 
used by both 
Union and Rebel armies in the war. Probably there were 
more of these erected in the vicinity of Petersburg and 
Richmond than in all the rest of the South combined, if 
I except Vicksburg, as here the opposing armies established 
themselves — the one in defence, the other in siege of 
the two cities. Thes>e bomb-proofs were built just inside the 
fortifications. Their walls were made of logs heavily banked 
with earth and liaving a door or wider opening on the side 
away from the enemy. The roof was also made of heavy 
logs covered with several feet of earth. 

The interior of these structures varied in size with the 
number that occupied them. Some were built on the sur- 
face of the ground, to keep them drier and more comfortable ; 




A COJtIMON KOIMH-PHOOF 



58 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



others were dug down after the manner of a celhir kitchen ; 
but all of them were at best damp and unwholesome habi- 
tations — even where fireplaces were introduced, which they 
were in cool weather. For tliese reasons they were occupied 
only when the enemy was engaged in sending over his iron 
compliments in the shape of mortar-shells. For all other 
hostile missiles the breastworks were ample protection, and 
under their walls the men stretched their half-shelters and 
passed mokt of their time in the summer and fall of 1864^ 

when their lot was 
cast in that part of 
the lines nearest the 
enemy in front of 
Petersburg. 

A mortar is a short, 
stout cannon design- 
ed to throw shells Into 
fortifications. This is 
accomplished by ele- 
vating the muzzle a 
great deal. But the 
higher the elevation 
the greater the strain 
upon the gun. For this reason it is that they are made so 
short and thick. They can be elevated so as to drop a shell 
just inside a fort, whereas a cannon-ball would either strike 
it on the outside, or pass over it far to the rear. 

Mortars were used very little as compared with cannon. 
In the siege of Petersburg, I think, they were used more at 
night than in the daytime. Tins was due to the exceeding 
watchfulness of the pickets of both armies. At some periods 
in the siege each side was in nightly expectation of an attack 
from the other, and so the least provocation — an accidental 
shot, or a strange and unusual sound after dark — would 
draw the fire of the pickets, which would extend from the 
point of disturbance all along the line in both directions. 




A 13-IN<H MOKTAR. 



UOW THE SOLDIERS WERE SHELTERED. 



59 



Then the main lines, both infantry and artillery, thinking it 
miglit possibly be a night attack, would join in the fire, 
while the familiar Rebel yell, responded to by the Union 
cheer, would swell louder as the din and roar increased. 
But soon the yelling, the cheering, the artillery, the mus- 
ketry would subside, and the mortar batteries with which 
each fort was supplied woidd continue the contest, and the 




A BOMB-PKOOF IN FORT HELL BEFORE PETERSBURG. 

sK}^ would become brilliant witli the fiery 
a relies of these lofty-soaring and more 
dignified projectiles. As the mortar-shells 
described their majestic curves across the lieavens every 
other sound was hushed, and the two armies seemed to 
stand in mute and mutual admiration of these magnificent 
messengers of destruction and woe. 

Sometimes a single shell could be seen climbing the sky 
from a Rebel mortar, but ere it had reached its destination as 
many as half a dozen from Union mortars would appear as if 
chasing each other tlirough the air, anxious to be foremost 



60 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

in resenting such temerity on the part of the enemy. In 
this arm of the service, as in the artillery, the Union army 
was greatl}^ superior to the enemy. 

These evening fusillades rarely did any damage. So 
harmless were they considered that President Lincoln and 
other officials frequently came down to the trenches to be a 
witness of them. But, harmless as they usually were to our 
side, they yet often enlisted our warm personal interest. 
The guns of my own company were several times a mark for 
their particular attentions by 'daylight. At such times we 
would watch the shells closely as they mounted the sky. If 
they veered to the right or left from a vertical in their 
ascent, we cared nothing for them as we then knew they 
would go one side of us. If they rose perpendicularly, and 
at the same time increased in size, our interest intensified. 
If they soon began to descend we lost interest, for that told 
us they would fall short; but if they continued climbing 
until much nearer the zenitli, and we could hear the creak- 
ing whistle of the fuse as the sliell slowly revolved through 
the air, business of a very pressing 7iature suddenly called us 
into the bomb-proofs; and it was not transacted until an 
explosion was heard, or a heavy jar told us that the bomb 
had expended its violence in the ground. 

These mortar-bombs could be seen very distinctly at 
times, but only when they were fired directly toward or 
from us. They can be seen immediately after they leave 
the gun if they come against the sky. Conung towards one 
they appear first as a black speck, increasing in size as 
stated. Besides mortar-sliells I have seen the shot and shell 
from twelve-pounders in transit, but never from rifled pieces, 
as their flight is much more rapid. 




CHAPTER TV. 




LIFE IN TENTS. 

" Sir, he made a cliiiiiney in my father's house, and the bricks are alive at 
this day to testify it." King Henry VI. 



the last chapter I described quite 
fully the principal varieties of shelter 
that our troops used in the war. lu 
this I wish to detail their dail}' life in 
those tents when they settled down 
in camp. Enter with me into a Sib- 
ley tent which is not stockaded. If 
it is cold weather, we shall find the 
cone-shaped stove, which I have already mentioned, setting 
in the centre. These stoves were useless for cooking pur- 
poses, and the men were likely to burn their blankets on 
them in the night, so that many of the troops utilized tliem 
by building a small brick or stone oven below, in which 
they did their cooking, setting the stove on top as a part of 
the flue. The length of pipe furnished by the government 
was not sufficient to reach the opening at the top, and the 
result was that unless the inmates bought more to piece it 
out, the upper part of such tents was as black and sooty as 
a chimney tine. 

The dozen men occupying a Sibley tent slept with their 
feet towards the centre. The choice place to occupy was 
that portion opposite the door, as one was not then in the 
way of passers in and out, although he was himself more or 
less of a nuisance to others when he came in. The tent was 
most crowded at meal times, for, owing to its shape, there 
can be no standing or sitting erect except about the centre. 

61 



62 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



But while there was more or less growling at accidents by 
some, there was much forbearance by others, and, aside from 
the vexations arising from the constitutional blundering of 
the Jonahs and the Beats, whom I shall describe later, these 
little knots were quite family-like and sociable. 

The manner in which the time was spent in these tents — 
and, for that matter, in all tents — varied with the disposition 




SIHLEY TENT. — INSIDE VIEW. 



of the inmates. It was not alwaj^s practicable for men of 
kindred tastes to band themselves under the same canvas, 
and so just as they differed in their avocations as citizens, 
they differed "in their social life, and many kinds of pastimes 
went on simultaneously. Of course, all wrote letters more 
or less, but there were a few men who seemed to spend the 
most of their spare time in this occupation. Especially was 



LIFE IN TENTS. 



63 



this so in the earlier part of a man's war experience. Tlie 
side or end stri]) of a hardtack box, held on the knees, 
constituted the writing-desk on which this operation was 
performed. It is well remembered that in the early months 
of the war silver money disappeai-ed, as it commanded 
a premium, so that, 
change being scarce, 
postage stamps were 
used instead. This 
was before scrip was 
issued by the gov- 
ernment to take the 
place of silver ; and 
although the use of 
stamps as change was 
not authorized by the 
national go vernment, 
yet everybody took 
them, and the sol- 
diers in particular 
just about to leave 
for the war carried 
large quantities away with them 
dition. This could hardly be expected when they had been 
through so many hands. They were passed about in little 
envelopes, containing twenty-five and fifty cents in value. 

Many an old soldier can recall his disgust on finding what 
a mess his stamps were in either from rain, perspiration, or 
compression, as he attempted, after a hot march, to get one 
for a letter. If he could split off one from a welded mass 
of perhaps a hundred or more, he counted himself fortunate. 
Of course they could be soaked out after a while, but he 
w^ould need to dry them on a griddle afterwards, they were 
so sticky. It was later than this that the postmaster-general 
issued an order allowing soldiers to send letters without pre- 
payment ; but, if I recollect right, it was necessary to write 




\VKITIN<i IIO.MI 



not all in the best of con- 



(^4 IIAIW TACK AND COFFEE. 

on the outside '' Soldier's Letter." I recall in this connec- 
tion a verse that was said to have appeared on a letter of 
this kind. It ran as follows : — 

Soldier's letter, nary red, 
Hardtack and no soft bread, 
Postmaster, please put it through, 
I've nary cent, but six months due. 

There were a large number of fanciful envelopes got up 
during the war. I heard of a young man who had a collec- 
tion of more than seven thousand such, all of different 
designs. I have several in my possession which I found 
among the numerous letters written home during war-time. 
One is bordered by thirty-four red stars — the number of 
States then in the Union — each star bearing the abbreviated 
name of a State. At the left end of the envelope hovers an 
eagle holding a sjiield and streamer, with this motto, '■'■Love 
one another.'' Another one bears a representation of the 
earth in space, with " United States " marked on it in large 
letters, and the American eas^le above it. Enclosino^ all is 
the inscription, "' What Grod has joined, let no man p7(t asun- 
der.'' A tliird has a medallion portrait of Washington, 
under which is, "A Southern Man avith Union Peinci- 
PLES." A fourth displays a man sitting among money-bags, 
on horseback, and driving at headlong speed. Underneath 
is the inscription, " Floyd off for the South. All that 
the Seceding States ask is to be let alone." Another has a 
negro standing grinning, a hoe in his hand. He is repre- 
sented as saying, " Massa can't have dis chile, dat's what's 
de matter " ; and beneath is the title, " The latest contraband 
of war." Then there are many bearing the portraits of early 
Union generals. On others Jeff Davis is represented as 
hanged ; while the national colors appear in a hundred or 
more ways on a number — all of which, in a degree at least, 
expressed, some phase of the sentiments poj)ular at the 
North. The Christian Commission also furnished envelopes 



LIFE JN TENTS. g5 

gratuitously to the armies, bearing their stamp and "Sol- 
dier's letter " in one corner. 

Besides letter-writing the various games of cards were 
freely engaged in. Many men pla3-ed for money. Cribbage 
and euchre were favorite games. Reading was a pastime 
quite generally indulged in, and there was no novel so 
dull, trashy, or sensational as not to find some one so bored 
with nothing to do that he would wade through it. I, cer- 
tainly, never read so many such before or since. The mind 
was hungry for something, and took husks when it could get 
nothing better. A great deal of good might have been done 
by the Christian Commission or some other organization 
planned to furnish the soldiers with good literature, for in 
that way many might have acquired a taste for the works 
of the best authors who would not have been likely to 
acquii'C it except under just such a condition as they were 
then in, viz.: a want of some entertaining pastime. There 
would then have been much less gambling and sleeping 
away of daylight than there was. Religious tracts were 
scattered among the soldiers by thousands, it is true, and 
probably did some good. I heard a Massacliusetts soldier 
say, not long ago, that when his regiment arrived in New 
York en route for the seat of war, the men were presented 
with " a plate of thin soup and a Testament." This remark 
to me was very suggestive. It reminded me of the vast 
amount of mistaken or misguided philanthropy tliat Avas 
expended upon the army by good Christian men and women, 
who, with the best of motives urging them forward no 
doubt, often labored under the delusion that the army was 
composed entirely of men thorougldy bad, and governed 
their actions accordingly. That there were bad men in tlie 
army is too well known to be denied if one cared to deny it ; 
and, while I may forgive, I cannot forget a war governor who 
granted pardon to several criminals that were serving out 
sentences in prison, if they would enlist. But the morally 
bad soldiers were in the minority. The good men should 



66 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



have received some consideration, and the tolerably good 
even more. Men are only children of an older growth ; 
they like to be appreciated at their worth at least, and the 
nature of many of the tracts was such that they defeated 
the object aimed at in their distribution. 

Chequers was a popular game among the soldiers, back- 
gammon less so, and it was only rarely that the statelier and 




STOCKADED A TENTS. 



less familiar game of chess was to be observed on the board. 
There were some soldiers who rarely joined in any games. 
In this class were to be found the illiterate members of a 
company. Of course they did not read or write, and they 
rarely played cards. They were usually satisfied to lie on 
their blankets, and talk with one another, or watch the 
playing. Yes, they did have one pastime — the proverbial 
soldier's pastime of smoking. A pipe was their omni- 
present companion, and seemed to make up to them in 



LIFE IN TENTS. 67 

sociability for whatsoever they lacked of entertainment in 
other directions. 

Then there were a few men in every organization who 
engaged in no pastimes and joined in no social intercourse. 
These men were irreproachable as soldiers, it may have been, 
doing without grumbling everything that was expected of 
them in the line of military or fatigue duty , but they seemed 
shut up within an impenetrable shell, and would lie on their 
blankets silent while all otliers joined in the social round ; 
or, perhaps, would get up and go out of the tent as if its 
lively social atmosphere was uncongenial, and walk up and 
down the parade or company street alone. Should you 
address them, they would answer pleasantl3% but in mono- 
syllables ; and if the conversation was continued, it must be 
done in the same way. They could not be drawn out. 
They would cook by themselves, eat by themselves, camp 
by themselves on the march, — in fact, keep by themselves 
at all times as mucii as possible. Guard duty was the one 
occupation which seemed most suited to their natures, for 
it provided them with the exclusiveness and comparative 
solitude that their peculiar mental condition craved. But 
these men were the exceptions. They were few in number, 
and the more noticeable on that account. They only served 
to emphasize the fact that the average soldier was a sociable 
being. 

One branch of business which was carried on quite exten- 
sivel}' was the making of pipes and rings as mementos 
of a camp or battle-field. The pipes were made from the 
root of the mountain laurel when it could be had, and often 
ornamented with the badges of the various corps, either in 
relief or inlaid. The rings were made sometimes of dried 
horn or hoof, very often of bone, and some were fashioned 
out of large gutta-percha buttons which were sent from 
home. 

The evenings in camp were less occupied in game-playing, 
I should say, than the hours off duty in the daytime ; partly, 



68 



HARB TACK AND COFFEE. 



perhaps, because the tents were rather dimly lighted, and 
partly because of a surfeit of sucli recreations by daylight. 
But, whatever the cause, I think old soldiers will generally 
agree in the statement that the evenings were the time of 
sociability and reminiscence. It was then quite a visiting 
time among soldiers of the same organization. It was then 
that men from the same town or neighborhood got torrether 




DRAFTING. 



and exchanged liome gossip. Each one would produce recent 
letters giving interesting information about mutual friends 
or acquaintances, telling that such a girl or old schoolmate 
was married ; that such a man had enlisted in such a regi- 
ment ; that another was wouiuled and at home on furlough ; 
that such another had been exempted from the forthcoming 
draft, because he had lost teeth ; that yet another had sud- 
denly gone to Canada on important business — which was a 
favorite refuge for all those who w^ere afraid of being 
forced into the service. 



LIFE IN TENTS. 69 

And when the draft finally was ordered, such chucklings 
as these old schoolmates or fellow-townsmen would exchange 
as they again compared notes ; first, to think that they 
themselves had voluntarily responded to their country's 
appeal, and, second, to hope that some of the croakers 
they left at home might be drafted and sent to the front 
at the point of the bayonet, interchanging sentiments of the 

following character : " There's A , he was always urging 

others to go, and declaring he would himself make one of 
the next quota." ..." I want to see him out here with a 

government suit on." ..." Yes, and there's B , who has 

lots of money. If he's drafted, he'll send a substitute. The 
government ought not to allow any able-bodied man, even if 
he has got money, to send a substitute." ..." Then there's 

C , who declared he'd die on his doorstep rather than be 

forced into the service. I only hope that his courage will be 
jjut to the test." — Such are fair samples of the remarks these 
fellow-soldiers would exchange with one another during an 
evening visitation. 

Then, there were many men not so fortunate as to have 
enlisted with acquaintances, or to be near them in the army. 
These were wont to lie on their blankets, and join in the 
general conversation, or exchange ante-war experiences, and 
find much of interest in common ; but, whatever the number 
or variety of the evening diversions, there is not the slightest 
doubt that home, its inmates, and surroundings were more 
thought of and talked of then than in all the rest of the 
twenty-four hours. 

In some tents vocal or instrumental music was a feature 
of the evening. There was probably not a regiment in the 
service that did not boast at least one violinist, one banjoist, 
and a bone player in its ranks — not to mention other 
instruments generally found associated with these — and 
one or all of them could be heard in operation, either inside 
or in a company street, most any pleasant evening. How- 
ever unskilful the artists, they were sure to be the centre 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



of an interested audience. The usual medley of comic 
songs and negro melodies comprised the greater part of 
the entertainment, and, if the space admitted, a jig or clog 
dance was stepped out on a hard-tack box or other crude 
platform. Sometimes a real negro was brought in to 
enliven the occasion by patting and dancing " Juba," 
or singing his quaint music. There were always ])leiity 




TlIK (AMI' .MINSTKKLS- 



of them in or near 
camp ready to fill 
any gap, for they 
asked nothing bet- 
ter than to be witli 
'• Massa Linkum's 

Sojers." But the men played tricks of all descriptions on 
them, descending at times to most shameful abuse until some 
one interfered. There were a few of the soldiers who were 
not satisfied to play a reasonable practical joke, but must 
bear down with all that the good-natured Ethiopians could 
stand, and, having the fullest confidence in the friendsliip 
of the soldiers, these poor fellows stood much more than 
human nature should be called to endure without a murmur. 
Of course they were on the lookout a second time. 



LIFE IN TENTS. 71 

There was o]ie song which the boys of the old Third 
Corps used to sing in the fall of 1863, to the tune of '' When 
Johnny comes marching home," which is an amusing jingle 
of historical facts. I have not heard it sung since .that 
time, but it ran substantially as follows : — 

We lire the boys of Potomac's ranks, 

Hurrah! Hurrah! 
We are the boys of Potomac's ranks, 
We ran with McDowell, retreated with Banks, 
And we'll all drink stone blind — 
Johnny, fill up the bowl. 

We fought with McClellan, the Rebs, shakes and fever. 

Hurrah! Hurrah! 
Then we fought with McClellan, the Rebs, shakes and fever. 
But Mac joined the navy on reaching James River, 
And we'll all drink, etc. 

Then they gave us John Pope, our patience to tax. 

Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
Then they gave us John Pope our patience to tax. 
Who said that out West he'd seen naught but Gray backs* 

He said his headquarters were in the saddle, 

Hurrah! Hurrah! 
He said his headquarters were in the saddle, 
But Stonewall Jackson made him skedaddle. 

Then Mac was recalled, but after Antietam, 

Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
Then Mac was recalled, but after Antietam 
Abe gave him a rest, he was too slow to beat 'em. 

Oh, Burnside then he tried his luck. 
Hurrah! Hurrah! 
Oh, Burnside then he tried his luck, 
But in the mud so fast got stuck. 

Then Hooker was taken to fill the bill, 

Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
Then Hooker was taken to fill the bill. 
But he got a black eye at Chancellorsville. 



* An allusion to a statement in the address made by Pope, on taking com- 
mand of the Army of Virginia, " I have come to you from the West where 
we have always seen the backs of our enemies." 



72 II A ED TACK AND COFFEE. 

Next came General Meade, a slow old plug, 

Hurrah! Hurrah! 
Next came General Meade, a slow old plug, 
For he let them away at Gettysburg. 

I think that there were other verses, and some of the 
above may have got distorted with the hipse of time. But 
they are essential!}^ correct. 

Here is the revised prayer of the sohlier while on the 
celebrated "Mud March" of Burnside : — 

" Now I lay me down to sleep 
111 mud that's many fathoms deep; 
If I'm not here when you awake, 
Just hunt me up with an oyster rake." 

It was rather interesting to walk through a company 
street of an evening, and listen to a few words of the 
conversation in progress in the tents — all lighted up, 
unless some one was saving or had consumed his allowance 
of candle. It would read much like a chapter from the 
telephone — noted down by a listener from one end of the 
line only. Then to peer into the tents, as one went along, 
just time enough to see what was going on, and excite the 
curiosity of the inmates as to the identity of the intruder, 
was a feature of such a walk. 

While the description I have been giving applies in some 
particulars to life in Sibley tents, yet, so far as much of it 
is concerned, it describes equally well the life of the private 
soldier in any tent. But the tent of th.e army was the 
shelter or dog tent , and the life of the private soldier in 
log huts under these tents requires treatment by itself in 
many respects. I shall therefore leave it for consideration 
in another chapter. 




CHAPTER V. 



LIFE IN LOG HUTS. 



Then lie built him a hut, 

Aiid in it he put 

The carcass of Robinson Crusoe. 



Old Song. 




liE camp of a regiment or battery was 
supposed to be laid out in regular order 
as definitely prescribed by Army Reg- 
ulations. These, I may state in a gen- 
eral way, provided that each company 
of a regiment should pitch its tents in 
two files, facing on a street which was 
at right angles with the color-line of the 
regiment. This color-line was the as- 
signed place for regimental formation. 
Then, without going into details, I will add that the com- 
pany officers' tents were pitched in rear of their respective 
companies, and the field officers, in rear of these. Cavalry 
had something of the same plan, but with one row of tents 
to a company, while the artillery had three files of tents, 
one to each section. 

All of this is preliminary to saying that while there was 
in Army Regulations this prescribed plan for laying out 
camps, yet the soldiers were more distinguished for their 
breach than their observance of this plan. Army Regula- 
tions were adopted for the guidance of the regular standing 
army ; but this same regulai- army was now only a very 
small fraction of the Union forces, the largest portion by 
far — "the biggest half," to use a Hibernianism — were vol- 
unteers, who could not or would not all be bound by Army 



74 II Ann tack and coffee. 

Regulations. In the establishing of camps, therefore, there 
was much of the go-as-you-please order of procedure. It 
is true that regiments commanded by strict disciplinarians 
^A^ere likely to and did keep pretty close to regulations. 
Many others approximated this standard, but still there 
then remained a large residuum who suited themselves, or, 
rather, perhaps did not attempt to suit anybody unless 
compelled to by superior authority ; so that in entering 
some camps one might find everything betokening the 
supervision of a critical military spirit, wliile others were 
such a hurly-burly lack of plan that a mere plough-jogger 
might have been, and perhaps was, the controlling genius 
of the camp. When troops located in the woods, as they 
always did for their winter cantonments, this lack of system 
in the arrangement was likely to be deviated from on 
account of trees. But to the promised topic of the chapter. 

Come with me into one of the log huts. I have already 
spoken of its walls, its roof, its chimney, its fire-place. The 
door we are to enter may be cut in the same end with the 
fire-place. Such was often the case, as there was just about 
unoccupied space enough for that purpose. But where four 
or more soldiers located together it was oftener put in the 
centre of one side. In that case the fire-place was in the 
opposite side as a rule. In entering a door at the end one 
would usually observe two bunks across the opposite end, 
one near the ground (or floor, when there was such a luxury, 
which was rarely), and the other well up towards the top of 
the walls. I say, usually. It depended upon circumstances. 
When two men only occupied the hut there was one bunk. 
Sometimes when four occupied it there was but one, and 
that one running lengthwise. There are other exceptions 
which I need not mention ; but the average hut contained 
two bunks. 

The construction of these bunks was varied in character. 
Some were built of boards from hardtack boxes ; some of 
barrel-staves laid crosswise on two poles ; some men impro- 



LIFE IN LOG HUTS. 



it) 



vised a spring-bed of slender sajilings, and padded them 
witli a cushion of liay, oak or pine leaves; others obtained 
coarse grain sacks from an artillery or cavalry camp, or from 
some wagon train, and by niakiiig a hammock-like arrange- 
ment of them thus devised to make repose a little sweeter. 
At the head of each bunk Avere the knapsacks or bundles 
which contained what each soldier boasted of personal 




INSIDK VIEW OK A LOG HUT. 



effects. These were likely to be under-clothes, socks, thread, 
needles, buttons, letters, stationery, photographs, etc. The 
number of such articles was fewer among infantry than 
among artillerymen, who, on the march, had their effects 
carried for them on the gun-carriages and caissons. But in 
winter-quarters both accumulated a large assortment of con- 
veniences from home, sent on in the boxes which so glad- 
dened the soldier's heart. 



76 HARB TACK AND COFFEE. 

The haversacks, and canteens, and the equipments usually 
hung on pegs inserted in the logs. The muskets had no 
regular abiding-place. Some stood them in a corner, some 
hung them on pegs by the slings. 

Domestic conveniences were not entirely wanting in the 
best ordered of these rude establishments. A hardtack box 
nailed end upwards against the logs with its cover on leather 
hinges serving as a door, and having suitable shelves in- 
serted, made a very passable dish-closet ; another such box 
put upside down on legs, did duty as a table — small, but 
large enough for the family, and useful. Over the fire-place 
one or more shelves were sometimes put to catch the hric-d- 
hrac of the hut ; and three- or four-legged stools enough 
were manufactured for the inmates. But such a hut as this 
one I have been describing was rather high-toned. There 
were many huts without any of these conveniences. 

A soldier's table-furnishings were his tin dipper, tin plate, 
knife, fork, and spoon. When he had finished his meal, he 
did not in many cases stand on ceremony, and his dishes 
were tossed under the bunk to await the next meal. Or, if 
he condescended to do a little dish-cleaning, it was not 
of an aesthetic kind. Sometimes he was satisfied to scrape 
his plate out with his knife, and let it go at that. Another 
time he would take a wisp of straw or a handful of leaves 
from his bunk, and wipe it out. When the soft bread was 
abundant, a piece of that made a convenient and serviceable 
dish-cloth and towel. Now and then a man would pour a 
little of his hot coffee into his plate to cleanse it. While 
here and there one, with neither pride, nor shame, nor 
squeamishness would take his plate out just as he last used 
it, to get his ration, offering no other remark to the com- 
ment of the cook than this, that he guessed the plate was a 
fit receptacle for the ration. As to the knife and fork, 
when they got too black to be tolerated — and they had to 
be of a very sable hue, it. should be said — there was no 
cleansing process so inexpensive, simple, available, and effi- 



LIFE IN LOG HUTS. 



77 



cient as running them vigorously into tlie earth a few 
times. 

For ligliting these huts the government furnished candles 
in limited quantities: at first long ones, which had to be cut 
for distribution ; but later they provided short ones. I have 
said that they were furnished in limited quantities. I will 
modify that statement. Sometimes they were abundant, 
sometimes the contrary ; but no one could 
account for a scarcity. It was customary to 
charge quartermasters 



with peculation in such 
cases, and it is true that 
many of them were ras- 
cals ; but I think they 




Ml*''. 





ARMY CANDLESTICKS. 



were sometimes saddled with burdens that did not belong to 
them. Some men used more light than others. Indeed, 
some men were constitutionally out of everything. They 
seemed to have conscientious scruples against keeping ra- 
tions of any description in stock for the limit of time for 
which they were drawn. 

As to candlesticks, the government provided the troops 
with these by tlie thousands. They were of steel, and very 
durable, but were supplied only to the infantry, who had 
simply to unfix bayonets, stick the points of the same in the 
ground, and their candlesticks were ready for service. As a 
fact, the bayonet shank was the candlestick of the rank and 



78 IJARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

file who used tliat iinpleiiieiit. It was always available, and 
just " tilled the bill " in other respects. Potatoes were too 
valuable to come into very general use for this purpose. 
Quite often the candle was set up on a box in its own 
drippings. 

Whenever candles failed, slush lamps were brought into 
use. Tliese I liave seen made by filling a sardine box with 
cook-house grease, and inserting a piece of rag in one corner 
for a wick. The whole was then suspended from the ridge- 
pole of the hut by a wire. This wii'e came to camp around 
bales of hay brought to the horses and mules. 

The bunks were the most popular institutions in the huts. 
Soldiering is at times a lazy life, and bunks were then lib- 
erally patronized ; for, as is well known, ottomans, lounges, 
and easy-chairs are not a part of a soldier's outfit. For that 
reason the bunks served as a substitute for all these luxuries 
in the line of furniture. 

I will describe in greater detail how tliey were used. All 
soldiers were provided with a woollen and a rubber blanket. 
When they retired, after tattoo roll-call, they did not strip 
to the skin and put on night-dresses as they would at home. 
They were satisfied, ordinarily, with taking off coat and 
boots, and perhaps the vest. Some, however, stripped to 
their flannels, and, donning a smoking-cap, would turn in, 
and pass a very comfortable night. There were a few in 
each regiment who never took off anything, night or day, 
unless compelled to; and these turned in at night in full 
uniform, with all the covering they could muster. I shall 
speak of this class in another connection. 

There was a special advantage in two men bunking 
together in winter-quarters, for then each got the benefit of 
the other's blankets — no mean advantage, either, in mucli 
of the weather. It was a common plan with the soldiers 
to make an under-sheet of the rubber blanket, the lining 
side up, just as when they camped out on the ground, for it 
excluded the cold air from below in tlie one case as it kept 



LIFE IN LOG HUTS. 79 

out dampness in the other. Moreover, it prevented the 
escape of animal heat. 

I think I have said that the lialf-shelters were not imper- 
vious to a hard rain. But I was about to sa}^ tliat when- 
ever such a storm came on it was often necessary for the 
occupants of the upper bunk to cover that part of the tent 
above them with their rubber blankets or ponchos ; or, if they 
did not wish to venture out to adjust such a protection, 
they would pitch them on the inside. When they did not 
care to bestir themselves enough to do either, they would 
compromise by spreading a rubber blanket over themselves, 
and let the Avater run off on to the tent floor. 

At intervals, whose length was governed somewhat by 
the movements of the army, an inspector of government 
property put in an appearance to examine into the condi- 
tion of the belongings of the government in the possession 
of an organization, and when in his opinion any property 
was unfit for further service it was declared condemned, 
and marked with his official brand, I C, meaning. Inspected 
Condenmed. This I C became a byword among the men, 
who made an amusing application of it on many occasions. 

In the daytime the men lay in their bunks and slept, or 
read a great deal, or sat on them and wrote their letters. 
Unless otherwise forbidden, callers felt at liberty to perch 
on them ; but there was sucli a wide difference in the habits 
of cleanliness of the soldiers that some proprietors of huts 
had, as they thought, sufficient reasons Avhy no one else 
should occupy their berths but themselves, and so, if the 
three-legged stools or boxes did not furnish seating capacity 
enough for company, and the regular boarders, too, the 
r. b. would take to the bunks with a dispatch which 
betokened a deeper interest than that required of simple 
etiquette. This remark naturally leads me to say some- 
thing of the insect life which seemed to have enlisted with 
the soldiers for '' three years or during the war," and which 
required and received a large share of attention in quarters, 



go UAED TACK AND COFFEE. 

mvich more, in fact, than during active campaigning. I 
refer now, especially, to the Pedicidus Vestimenti, as the 
scientific men call him, but whose picture when it is well 
taken, and somewhat magnified, bears this familiar outline. 
Old soldiers will recognize the picture if the wawe is an 
odd one to them. This was the historic "grayback" which 
went in and out before Union and Confederate soldiers 
without ceasing. Like death, it was no respecter of persons. 
It preyed alike on the just and the unjust. It inserted its 
bill as confidingly into the body of the major-general as of 
the lowest private. I once heard the orderly of a company 
officer relate that he had picked fifty-two grayhacks from 
the shirt of his chief at one sitting. Aristocrat or plebeian 
it mattered not. Every soldier seemed foreor- 
dained to encounter this pest at close quarters. 
Eternal vigilance was 7iot the price of liberty. 
That failed the most scrupulously careful vet- 
eran in active campaigning. True, the neatest 
escaped the longest, but sooner or later the 
time came when it was simply impossible for 
PEDicuns vEs- even them not to let the left hand knotv -what 
the right hand was doing. 
The secretiveness which a man suddenl}^ developed when 
he found himself inhabited for the first time was very 
entertaining. He would cuddle all knowledge of it as 
closely as the old Forty-Niners did the hiding-place of 
their bag of gold-dust. Perhaps he would find only one 
of the vermin. This lie would secretly murder, keeping 
all knowledge of it from his tent-mates, while he nourished 
the hope that it was the Robinson Crusoe of its race cast 
away on a strange shore with none of its kind at hand to 
cheer its loneliness. Alas, vain delusion ! In ninety-nine 
cases out of a hundred this solitary pediculus would prove 
to be the advance guard of generations yet to come, which, 
ere its capture, had been stealthily engaged in sowing its 
seed ; and in a space of time all too brief, after the first 




LIFE IN LOG HUTS. 



81 



discovery the same soldier would appoint himself an inves- 
tigating committee of one to sit with closed doors, and hie 
away to the desired seclusion. There he would seat himself 
taking his garments across his knees in turn, conscientiously 
doing his (k)nitting work, inspecting every fibre with the 
scrutiny of a dealer in broadcloths. 

The feeling of intense disgust aroused by the first contact 
with these creepers soon gave way to hardened indifference, 
as a soldier realized 
the utter impossi- 
bility of keeping 
free from them, and 
the privacy with 
which he carried 
on his first "skir- 
mishing," as this 
"search for happi- 
ness " came to be 
called, was soon 
abandoned, and the 
warfare carried on 
more openly. In 
fact, it was the 
mark of a cleanly 
soldier to be seen 

engaged at it, for there was no disguising 
the fact that everybody needed to do it. 

In cool weather "skirmishing" was car- 
ried on in quarters, but in warmer weather the men pre- 
ferred to go outside of camp for this purpose ; and the woods 
usually found near camps were full of them sprinkled about 
singly or in social parties of two or three slaying their vic- 
tims by the thousands. Now and then a man could be seen 
just from the quartermaster with an entire new suit on his 
arm, bent on starting afresh. He would hang the suit on a 
bush, strip off every piece of the old, and set fire to the 




(K)NITTING WORK. 



82 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



same, and thou don the new suit of blue. So far well ; but 
he was a lucky man if he did not share his new clothes with 
other hungry pediculi inside of a week. 

" Skirnushing," however, furnished only slight relief from 
the oj^pressive attentions of the grayback, and furthermore 
took much time. Hot water was the sovereign remedy, for 

it penetrated every mesh and seam, 
and cooked the millions yet un- 
born, whicli Job himself could not 
have exterminated by the thumb- 
nail process unaided. So tenacious 
of life were these creatures tliat 
some veterans afhrm they have 
seen them still cree[)ing on gar- 
ments taken out "of boiling/ ivater^ 
and that only b}^ putting salt in 
the water were they sure of ac- 
complishing their destruction. 

I think there was but one opinion 
among the soldiers in regard to the 
graybacks ; viz.^ that the country 
was being ruined by over-produc- 
tion. What the Colorado beetle is 
to the potato crop they were to the 
soldiers of both armies, and that 
man has fame and fortune in his 
hand who, before the next great war in any country, shall 
have invented an extirpator which shall'do for the pedieulus 
what paris-green does for the potato-bug. From all this it 
can readily be seen why no good soldier wanted his bunk to 
be regarded as common property. 

I may add in passing that no other variety of insect life 
caused any material annoyance to the soldier. Now and 
then a wood-tick would insert his head, on the sly, into 
some part of the human integument ; but these were not 
common or unclean. 




TUKNING IlIM UVEK. 



LIFE IN LOG HUTS. 



83 



I have already related much that the soldier did to pass 
away time. I will add to that which I have already given 
two branches of domestic industry that occupied a consid- 
erable time in log huts 
with a few, and less — /f ^~ ''^ 

very much less indeed ^ '" 

— with others. I refer 
to washing and mending. 
Some of the men were 
just as particular about 
changing their under- 
clothing at least once 
a week as they would be 
at home; while others 
would do so only under, 
the severest pressure. It 
is disgusting to remem- 
ber, even at this late 
day, how little care lum- 
dreds of the men be- 
stowed on bodily clean- 
liness. The story, quite familiar to old soldiers, about the 
man who was so negligent in this respect that when lie 
finally took a bath he found a number of shirts and socks 
wliich he supposed he had lost, arose from 
the fact of there being a few men in every 
/^ %\ organization who were most unaccount- 
' &y ably regardless of all rules of health, and 
'^^ of whom such a statement would seem, to 
I »» those that knew tlie parties, only slightly 
exaggerated. 

A WOOD-TICK. «?0 ^^.^ ,, .p 

How was this washing done r Weil, it 
the troops were camping near a brook, that simplified the 
matter somewhat ; but even then the clothes must be boiled, 
and for this purpose there was but one resource — the mess 
kettles. There is a familiar anecdote related of Daniel 




150ILINO THKM. 




84 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



Webster : that while he was Secretary of State, the French 
Minister at Washington asked him whether the United 
States would recognize the new government of France — 
I think Louis Napoleon's. Assuming a very solemn tone 
and posture, Webster replied : " Why not ? The United 
States lias recognized the Bourbons, the French Republic, 

the Directory, the 
Council of Five 
Hundred, the First 
Consul, the Emper- 
or, Louis XVII L, 
Charles X., Louis 
Philippe, the" — 



"■Enough! enough I" 
cried the minister, 
fully satisfied with 
the extended array 
of precedents cited. 
So, in regard to 
using our mess ket- 
tles to boil clothes 
-:;^ in, it might be ask- 
ed " Why not ? " 
Were they not used 
to boil our meat and 
potatoes in, to make 
our bean, pea, and 
meat soups in, to boil our tea and coffee in, to make our apple 
and peach sauce in ? Why not use them as wash-boilers''* 
Well, "gentle reader," while it might at first interfere some- 
what with your appetite to have 3M3ur food cooked in the 
wash-boiler, you would soon get used to it ; and so this com- 
plex use of the mess kettles soon ceased to affect the appetite, 
or to shock the sense of propriety of the average soldier as to 
the eternal fitness of things, for he was often compelled b^ 
circumstances to endure much greater improprieties. It 




CLEANING UP. 



LIFE IN LOG HUTS. 85 

■would indeed have been a most admirable arrangement in 
many respects could each man have been provided with an 
excellent Magee Range with copper-boiler annex, and set 
tubs near by ; but the line had to be drawn somewhere, and 
so everything in the line of impedimenta was done away with, 
unless it was absolutely essential to the service. For this 
reason we could not take along a well equipped laundry, but 
must make some articles do double or triple service. 

It may be asked what kind of a figure the men cut as 
Avasherwomen. Well, some of them were awkward and 
imperfect enough at it ; but necessity is a capital teacher, 
and, in this as in many other directions, men did perforce 
what they would not have attempted at home. It was not 
necessary, however, for every man to do his own washing, 
for in most companies there was at least one man who, for a 
reasonable recompense, was ready to do such work, and he 
usually found all he could attend to in the time he had off 
duty. There was no ironing to be done, f(jr "l)oiled shirts," 
as white-bosomed shirts were called, were almost an un- 
known garment in the army except in lios[)itals. Flannels 
were the order of the day. If a man had the courage to 
face the ridicule of his comrades by wearing a white collar, 
it was of the paper variety, and white cuffs were unknown 
in camp. 

In the department of mending garments each man did his 
own work, or left it undone, just as he thought best ; but no 
one hired it done. Every man had a "housewife" or its 
equivalent, containing the necessary needles, yarn, thimble, 
etc., furnished him by some mother, sister, sweetheart, or 
Soldier's Aid Society, and from this came his materials to 
mend or darn with. 

Now, the average soldier was not so susceptible to the 
charms and allurements of sock-darning as he should have 
been ; for this reason he always put off the direful day until 
both heels looked boldly and with hardened visage out the 
back-door, while his ten toes ranged themselves en echeloti in 



80 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



front of their (quarters. l>y such delay or neglect good 
ventilation and the o})[)ortunity of drawing on the socks 
from either end were secured. The task of once more 
restricting the toes to quarters was not an eas}'" one, and 
the processes of arriving at this end were 
not many in nundjer. Perhaps the 
speediest and most unique, if not the 
most artistic, was that of tying a string 
around the hole. This was a scheme for 
cutting the Gordian knot of darning, 
which a few modern Alexanders put into 
execution. But I never heaixl any of them 
commend its comforts after the jcdj was 
done. 

Then, there were other men who, hav- 
ing arranged a checker-board of stitches 
over tlie holes, as they had seen their 
mothers do, had not the time or patience 
to fill in the squares, and the inevitable 
consequence was that both heels and toes 
would look through the bars only a few 
hours before breaking jail again. But 
there were a few^ of the boys 
who were kept furnished with 
home-made socks, knit, per- 
haps, by their good old grand- 
mas, who seemed to inherit 
the patience of the grandams 
themselves; for, whenever 
there was mending or darning to be done, they would sit by 
the hour, and do the work as neatly and conscientiously as 
any one could desire. I am not wide of the facts when I 
say that the heels of the socks darned by these men re- 
mained firm when the rest of the fabric was well spent. 

Tliere was little attempt made to repair the socks drawn 
from the government supplies, for they were generally of 





A HOUSEWIFE. 



LIFE IN LOG HUTS. ST 

the shoddiest description, and not worth it. In synnnetr}'-, 
they were like an elbow of stove-pipe ; nor did the likeness 
end here, for, while the stove-pipe is open at both ends, so 
were the socks within forty-eight hours after puttings 
them on. 

Cooking was also an industry which occupied 'more or 
less of the time of individuals ; but when the army was in 
settled camp company cooks usually took charge of the 
rations. Sometimes, where companies preferred it, the ra- 
tions were served out to them in the raw state ; but there 
was no invariable rule in this matter. I think the soldiers, 
as a whole, preferred to receive their coffee and suwar raw, 
for rough experience in campaigning soon made each man 
an expert in the preparation of this ])everage. Moreover, 
he could make a more palatable cup for himself than the 
cooks nuide for him ; for too often their handiwork betrayed 
some of the other uses of the mess kettles to which I have 
made reference. Then, again, some men liked tlseir coffee 
strong, others weak; some liked it sweet, others wished little 
or no sweetening ; and this latter class could and did save 
their sugar for other purposes. I shall give other particulars 
about this when I take up the subject of Army Rations. 

It occurs to me to mention in this connection a circum- 
stance which may seem somewhat strange to many, and that 
is that some parts of the army burned hundreds of cords of 
gxeen pine-wood while lyiug in winter-quarters. It was 
very often their only resource for heat and warmth. People 
at the North would as soon think of attempting to burn 
water as green pine. But the explanation of the paradox 
is this — the pine of southern latitudes has more pitch in it 
than that of northern latitudes. Then, the heart-wood of 
all pines is comparatively dry. It seemed especially so 
South. Tlie heart-wood was used to kindle with, and the 
pitchy sap-wood placed on top, and by the time the heart- 
wood had burned the sappy portion had also seasoned 
enough to blaze and make a good fire. These })ines had 



88 



HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 



the advantage over tlie hard woods of beinc^ more easily 
worked up • — an advantage which the average soldier 
appreciated. 

Nearly every organization had its barber in established 
camp. True, many men never used the razor in the ser- 




THE CAJir BARBER. 



vice, but allowed a shrubby, 
straggling growth of hair 
and beard to grow, as if 
to conceal them from the enemy in time of battle. Many 
more carried their own kit of tools and shaved them- 
selves, frequentl}^ shedding innocent blood in the service 
of their country while undergoing the operation. But 
there was yet a large number left who, whether from 
lack of skill in the use or care of the razor, or from want 



LIFE IN LOG HUTS. 89 

of inclination, preferred to patronize the camp barber. This 
personage plied his vocation inside the tent in cold or 
stormy weather, but at other times took his post in rear 
of the tent, where he had improvised a chair for the com- 
fort (?) of liis victims. This chair was a product of home 
manufacture. Its framework was four stakes driven into 
the ground, two long ones for the back legs, and two 
shorter ones for the front. On this foundation a super- 
structure was raised which made a passable barber's chair. 
But not all the professors who presided at these chairs were 
finished tonsors, and the back of a soldier's head whose hair 
had been " shingled " by one of them was likely to show 
each course of the shingles with painful distinctness. The 
razors, too, were of the most barbarous sort, like the " trust 
razor" of the old song with which the Irishman got his 
" Love o' God Shave." 

One other occupation of a few men in every camp, which 
I must not overlook, was that of studying the tactics. Some 
were doing it, perhaps, under the instructions of superior 
officers ; some because of an ambition to deserve promotion. 
Some were looking to passing a competitive examination 
with a view of obtaining a furlough ; and so these men, from 
various nu)tives, were " booking " themselves. But the great 
mass of the rank and file had too much to do with the 
practice of war to take much interest in working out its 
theory, and freely gave themselves up, when off duty, to 
€very available variety of physical or mental recreation, 
doing their uttermost to pass away the time rapidly ; and 
even those troops having nearly three years to serve would 
exclaim, with a cheerfulness more feigned than real, as each 
day dragged to its close, " It^s only two years and a but.'" 



CHAPTER VI. 



JONAHS AND BEATS. 



" Good people, I'll sing you a ditty, 
So bear with me all ye who can; 
I make an appeal to your pity, 
For I'm a most unlucky man. 
'Twas under an unlucky planet 
That I a poor mortal was born; 
My existence since first I began it 
Has been very sad and forlorn. 
Then do not make sport of my troubles. 
But pity me all ye who can, 
For I'm an uncomfortable, horrible, terrible, inconsolable, unlucky man." 

Old Song. 

N a former chapter I made the statement 
tliat Sibley tents furnished quarters capa- 
cious enough for twelve men. That state- 
ment is to be taken with some qualifica- 
tions. If those men were all lying down 
asleep, there did not seem much of a crowd. 
But if one man of the twelve happened 
to be on guard at night, and, further- 
more, was on what we used to know as 
the Third Relief guard, which in my 
company was posted at 12, midnight, and 
came off post at 2 a.m., when all were 
soundly sleeping, and, moreover, if this 
man chanced to quarter in that part of 
the tent opposite the entrance, and if, in seeking his blanket 
and board in the darkness, it was his luck to step on the 
stockinged foot of a recumbent form having a large voice, a 
large temper, but a small though forcible selection of Eng- 
lish defiled, straightway that selection was hurled at the head 
of the offending even though well-meaning guard. And if, 

90 




JONAUS AND BEATS. 91 

under the excitement of his mishap, the luckless guard makes 
a spring thinking to clear all other intervening slumberers 
and score a home run, but alights instead amidships of the 
comrade who sleeps next him, expelling from him a groan 
that by all kno\vn comparisons should have been his last, 
the poor guard has only involved himself the more inextri- 
cably in trouble ; for as soon as his latest victim recovers 
consciousness sufficiently to know that it was 7iot a twelve- 
pound cannon ball that has doubled him up, and that 
stretcher bearers are not needed to take him to the rear, 
he strikes up in the same strain and pitch and force as 
that of the first victim, and together they make the mid- 
night air vocal with choice invective against their repre- 
sentative of the Third Relief. By this time the rest of 
the tent's crew have been waked up, cross enough, too, at 
being thus rudely disturbed, and they all come in heavily 
on the chorus. As the wordy assault continues the inmates 
of adjoining tents who have also been aroused take a hand 
in it, and '' Shut up ! " — " Sergeant of the Guard : " — 
" Go lie down ! " — " Shoot him on the spot ! " — " Put him 
in the guard-house ! " are a few of the many impromptu 
orders issued within and without the tent in question. 

At last the tempest in a teapot expends itself and by the 
time that the sergeant of the guard lias arrived to seek out 
the cause of the tumult and enforce the instructions of the 
officer of the day by putting the offenders against the rules 
and discipline of camp under arrest, for talking and dis- 
turbance after Taps, all are quiet, for no one would make a 
complaint against the culprits. Their temporary excitement 
has cooled, and the discreet sergeant is even in doubt as to 
which tent contains the offenders. 

Now, accidents will happen to the most careful and the 
best of men, but the soldier whom I have been describing 
could be found in every squad in camp — that is, a man of 
his kind. Such men were called "Jonahs" on account of 
their ill luck. Perhaps this particular Jonah after getting 



92 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



his tin plate level full of hot pea-soup was sure, on entering 
the tent, to spill a part of it down somebody's back. The- 
higher he could hold it the better it seemed to please him as 
he made his wa}^ to his accustomed place in the tent, and in 
bringing it down into a latitude where he proposed to eat it 




THE JONAH Sl'ILLING PEA-SOUP. 



he usually managed to dispose of much of the remainder, 
either on his own or somebody else's blankets. When pea- 
soup failed him for a diversion, he was a dead shot on kick- 
ing over his neighbor's pot of coffee, which the owner had 
put down for a moment while he adjusted his lap-table to 
receive his supper. The profuseness of the Jonah's apolo- 
gies — and they always were profuse, and undoubtedly 
sincere — was utterly inadequate as a balm for the wounds 
he made. Anybody else in the tent might have kicked the 
coffee to the remotest bounds of camp with malice afore- 
thought, and it would not have produced a tithe of the 
aggravation which it did to have this constitutional blun- 
derer do it by accident. It may be that he wished to borrow 



JONAHS AND BEATS. 



93 



your ink. Of course you could not refuse him. It may 
have been made by you with some ink powders sent from 
liome — perhaps the last you had and which you should 
want yourself that very day. It mattered not. He took it 
with complacency and fair promises, put it on a box by his 
side and tipped the box over five minutes afterward by the 
watch. 

Cooking w^as the forte of this Jonah. He could be found 
most any time of day — or night, if he was a guardsman — 
around the camp-fire with his little mess of something in his 
tomato can or tin dipper, which he would throw an air of 




THE CAMP-FIRE BEFORE THE JONAH APPEARS. 



mystery around every now and then by drawing a small 
package from the depths of his pocket or haversack and 
scattering some of its contents into the brew. But there 
was a time in the history of his culinary pursuits when he 
rose to a supreme height as a blunderer. It was wiien he 
appeared at the camp-fire which, by the way, he never 
kindled himself, ready to occupy the choice places with his 
dishes ; and after the two rails, between which fires w^ere 
usually built, had been well burdened by the coffee-pots of 
his comrades it presented an opportunity which his evil 
genius was likely to take advantage of; for then he was 
suddenl}^ seized with a thouglit of something else that he 
had forgotten to borrow. Turning in his haste to go to the 



94 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



tent for this purpose he was sure to stumble over the end of 
one or both of the rails, when the downfall of the coffee- 
pots and the quenching of the fire followed as a matter of 
course. At just this point in his career it would be to the 
credit of his associates to drop the curtain on the picture ; 
but the sequel must be told. The average soldier was not 
an especially devout man, and while in times of imminent 
danger he had serious thoughts, yet at other times his many 
trials, his privations, and the rigors of a necessary discipline 




THE CAMP-FIRE AFTER THE JONAH APPEARS. 



all conduced to make him a highly explosive creature on 
demand. Moreover, coffee and sugar were staple articles 
with the soldier, and the least waste of them was not to 
be tolerated under ordinary circumstances ; but to have a 
whole line of coffee-pots with their precious contents upset 
by the Jonah of the tent in his recklessness was the last 
ounce of pressure removed from the safety valve of his 
tent-mates' wrath ; and such a discharge of hard names and 
oaths, " long, loud, and deep," as many of these sufferers 
would deliver themselves of, if it could have been utilized 
against the enemy, might have demolished a regiment. And 
the others who did not give vent to their passions by blows 



JONAHS AND BEATS. 



95 




THE UNLUCKY MAN. 



or the use of strong language seemed to sympathize very 
keenly with those who did. Two chaplains apiece to some 
of the men would have been none too many to hold them in 
check. 

I remember one man who seemed always to have hard luck 
in spite of himself. He was a good soldier and meant well, 

but would blun- 
der badly now 
and then. His 
last act in the 
service was to 
plunge an axe 
tln-ough his boot while he 
was cutting wood. Unfortu- 
nately for him as it hap- 
pened his foot was in it at 
the time. On pulling it out 
of the boot and looking it 
over he found that several of his toes had "got left"; so 
he took up his boot, turned it upside down, and shook out 
a shower of toes as complacently as if that was what he 
enlisted for. This casualty closed his career in active 
service. 

There were divers other directions in which the Jonah 
distinguished himself; but I must leave him for the present 
to direct attention to the other class of men of whom I wish 
to say something. These were the heats of the service — 
a name given them by their comrades-in-arms. There were 
all grades of beats. The original idea of beat was that of a 
lazy man or a shirk, who would b}^ hook or by crook get rid 
of all military or fatigue duty that he could ; but the term 
grew to have a broader significance. 

One of the milder forms of beat was the man who sat 
over the fire in the tent piling on wood all the time, and 
roasting out the rest of the tent's crew, who seemed to 
have no rights that this fireman felt bound to respect. He 



96 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

was always cold. He wore overcoat, dress-coat, blouse, and 
flannels the full government allowance all at once, but never 
complained of being too warm. He never took off any of 
these garments night or day unless compelled to on inspec- 
tion. He was most at home on fatigue duty, for he seemed 
fatigued from the start and moved like real estate. A 
sprinkling of this class seemed necessary to the success of 
the Union arms, for they were certainly to be found in every 
organization. 

Another and more positive type of beat were the men who 
never had any water in their canteens. Even when the 
army was in settled camp, water was not 
always to be had without going some 
distance for it ; but these men were never 
known to go after any. They always 
managed to hanof their canteen on some 
one else who was bound for the spring. 
If, when the army was on the move, a 
rush was made during a temporary halt, 
for a spring or stream some distance away, 
these men never rushed. They were satis- 
fied to lie down and drink a supply which 
thev took their chances of beo^ging, from 

GOING AFTER WATER. ^^"^J ""^ »0 »' 

some recruit, perhaps, who did not know 
their propensities. If it happened to any man to be so 
straitened in his cooking operations as to be under the 
necessity of borrowing from one of these, he was sure of 
being called upon to requite the favor fully as many times 
as his temper would endure it. 

Then, as to rations, their hardtack never held out, and 
they were ever on the alert to borrow. It mattered not 
how great the scarcity, real or anticipated, they could not 
provide for a contingency, and their neighbors in the same 
squad were mean and avaricious — so the beats said — if 
they would not give of their husbanded resources to these 
profligate, improvident comrades. But this class did not 




JONAHS AND BEATS. 97 

stop at borrowing hardtack. They were not all of them 
particular, and wdien hardtack could not be spared they 
would get along -with coffee or sugar or salt pork ; or, if 
they could borrow a dollar., " just for a day or two," they 
would then repay it surely, because several letters from 
their friends at home, each one containing money, were 
already overdue. People in civil life think they know all 
about the imperfections of the United States postal service, 
and tell of their letters and papers lost, miscarried, or in 
some way delayed, with much pedantry ; but they have 
yet to learn the A B C of its imperfections, and no one 
that I know^ of is so competent to teach them as certain 
of the Union soldiers. I could have produced men in 
1862-5, yes — I can now — who lost more letters in one 3'ear, 
three out of every four of which contained considerable 
sums of money, than any postmaster-general yet appointed 
is Avilling to admit have been lost since the establishment 
of a mail service. This, remember, the loss of one man ; 
and when it is multiplied by the number of men just like 
liim that were to be found, not in one army alone but in 
all the armies of the Union, a special reason is obvious why 
the government sliould be liberal in its dealings with the old 
soldier. 

In this connection I am reminded of another interesting 
feature of army experience, which is of some historical value. 
It was this : whenever the troops were paid off a very large 
majority of them wished to send the most of their pay home 
to their families or their friends for safe keeping. Of course 
there was some risk attending the sending of it in the mails. 
To obviate this risk an " allotment " plan was adopted by 
means of which when the troops were visited by the pay- 
master, on signing a roll prepared for that purpose, so much 
of their pay as they wished was allotted or assigned by the 
soldiers to whomsoever they designated at the North. To 
illustrate : John Smith had four months' pay due him at the 
rate of il3 a month. He decided to allot -flO per month of 



98 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

this to his wife at Plymouth, Mass.; so the paymaster pays 
him $12, and the remaining $40 is paid to his wife by check 
in Plymouth, without any further action on the part of John. 

This plan was a great convenience to both the soldiers 
and their families. In this division of his income the calcu- 
lation of the soldier was to save out enough for himself to 
pay all incidental expenses of camp life, sucli as washing, 
tobacco, newspapers, pies and biscuits, boiiglit of "Aunty," 
and cheese and cakes of the sutler. But in spite of his nice 
calculations the rule was that the larger part of the money 
allotted home was returned, by request of the sender, in 
small amounts of a dollar or the fraction of a dollar. I have 
previously stated that at that time silver had gone out of 
use, it being only to be had by paying tlie premium on it, just 
as on gold, and so to take its place the government issued 
what was generally known as scrip, being paper currency of 
the denominations of fifty, twenty-five, ten, five, and, later, 
fifteen and three-cent pieces, some of which are still in cir- 
culation. They were a great convenience to the soldiers 
and their friends. But to resume : — 

If the statements made by these beats as to the amount 
of money they had sent for and were expecting were to be 
believed they must not only have sent for their full allot- 
ment, but have drawn liberally on their home credit or the 
charity of their friends besides. In truth, however, the 
genuine beat never intended to return borrowed money. It 
is currently believed by outsiders that the soldiers who stood 
shoulder to shoulder battling for the Union, sharing the same 
exposures, the same shelter, the same mess would ever after- 
wards be likely to stand steadfastly by one another. The 
organization of the Grand Army of the Republic seems to 
strengthen such an opinion, yet human nature remains 
pretty much the same in all situations. If a man was a 
shirk or a thief or a beat or a coward or a worthless scoun- 
drel generally in the army, it was because he had been 
educated to it before he enlisted. The leopard cannot 



JONAHS AND BEATS. 99 

change his spots nor the Etliiopian his skin. It will there- 
fore create no great surprise when I remark that a large 
amount of money borrowed by one soldier of another has 
never been repaid ; and such is the lack of honesty and 
manliness on the part of these men that they can meet the 
old comrades of whom in those trying war days they bor- 
rowed one, two, five, or ten dollars, and in some cases more, 
without so much as a blush or betraying in any manner the 
slightest recognition of their long standing obligation. Some 
are so worthless and brazen-faced even as to ask the same 
victims for more at this late day. 

One favorite dodge of the beat was to have the corporal 
arouse him twice or three times before he would finally get 
out of his bunk ; and then he would prepare to go out at a 
snail's pace. Once on his beat, his next dodge was to 
manoeuvre so as to have the corporal of his relief do the 
most of his duty for him ; for hardly would he have been 
jjosted before the corporal must be summoned, the beat 
having been seized with a desire to go to the company sink. 
That is good for half an hour out of the corporal at least. 
At last the dodger reappears moving at a slow pace, and 
wearing the appearance of a man suffering for his discharge 
from service. He retails his woes to the corporal, as he 
resumes his equipments, in a most doleful strain. But the 
corporal is in no mood to listen after his long wait, and 
hastily directs his steps towards the guard-tent. 

He is not allowed to remain there long, however, ere a 
summons reaches him from the same post, to which he 
res})onds with excusable ill-humor and mutterings at the 
duplicity of the guardsman in question. This time the 
patient has happened to think of some medicine at his tent 
which will be of benefit to him. Of course the corporal is 
anxious enough to have him healed, and so he again assumes 
the duties of the post for the shirk, who does not reappear 
until his last hour of duty is well on its second quarter, 
feigning in excuse that he could not find his own panacea 



100 



FIARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



and so was obliged to go elsewhere. Thus in one way and 
another, by using the kind offices of his messmates together 
with those of the corporal, he would manage to get out of at 
least two-thirds of his guard duty. 

After the battle of Fredericksburg a soldier belonging to 
a gallant regiment in Burnside's corps, whose courage had 

evidently been put to a sore test 
in the above engagement, resorted 
to the 7'heumatic dodge to secure 
his discharge. He responded daily 
to sick call, pitifully warped out 
of shape, was prescribed for, but 
all to no avail. One leg was 
drawn up so that, apparently, he 
could not use it, and groans in- 
dicative of excruciating agony 
escaped him at studied intervals 
and on suitable occasions. So his 
case went on for six weeks, till at 
last the surgeon recommended his 
discharge. It was approved at 
regimental, brigade, and division headquarters, and had 
reached corps headquarters when the corps was ordered to 
Kentucky. At Covington the party having the supposed 
invalid in charare o-ained access in some manner to a barrel 
of whiskey. Not being a temperance man, the dodger was 
thrown off his guard by this sjAritwal bonanza, and, taking 
his turn at the straw, for which entry had been made into 
the barrel, he was soon as sprightly on both legs as ever. 
In this condition his colonel found him. Of course his 
discharge was recalled from corps headquarters, and the way 
of this transgressor was made hard for months afterwards. 

There was another field in which the beat played an inter- 
esting part. I use played with a double significance, for he 
never worked if he could avoid it. It was when a detail of 
men was made to do some line of fatigue duty., by which is 




THE KHEIMATK 



JONAHS AND BEATS. 



101 



meant all the labors of the service distinct from strict mili- 
taiy duty, such as the " policing " or clearing np of camp, 
procuring wood and water for the company, digging and 
fitting up of sinks (the water-closets of the army), and, in 
addition to these duties, in cavalry and artillery, procuring 
grain and forage for the horses. It was a sad fate to befall 




WATKK FOR THE f UOlv-HOUSE. 



a good duty soldier to get on to a detail to procure wood 
where every second or third man was a shirk or beat ; for 
while they must needs bear the appearance of doing some- 
thing, they were really in the way of those who could work 
and were willing to. Many of these shirkers would waste a 
great deal of time and breath maligning the government or 
their officers for requiring them to do such work, indig- 
nantly declaring that " they enlisted to fight and not to 
chop wood or dig sinks." But it was noticeable that when 
the fight came on, if any of these heroes got into it, they 
then appeared just as willing to bind themselves by contract 
to cut all the wood in Virginia, if they could only be let go 
just that once. These were the men who were "invincible 
in peace and invisible in war," as the late Senator Hill, of 
Georgia, once said. I may add here that, coming as the 



102 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

soldiers did from all avocations and stations in life, these 
details for fatigue often brought together men few of whom 
had any practical knowledge of the work in hand ; so that 
aside from the shirks, who could work but would not, there 
were others who would but could not, at least intelligentl5^ 
Still, the army was a great educator in many ways to men 
who cared to learn, and some of the most ignorant became 
by force of circumstances quite expert, in time, in channels 
hitherto untraversed by them. 

But there was one detail upon which our shirks, beats, and 
men unskilled in manual labor, such as the handling of the 
spade and pickaxe, appeared in all the glory of their artful 
dodging and ignorance. If a man did not take hold of the 
work lively, whether because he preferred to shirk it or 
because he did not understand it, the worse for him. The 
detail in question was one made to administer the last rites 
to a batch of deceased horses. It happened to the artillery 
and cavalry to lose a large number of these animals in 
winter, which, owing to the freezing of the ground, could 
not be buried until the disappearance of the frost in spring ; 
but by that time, through the action of rain and sun and 
the frequent depredations of dogs, buzzards, and crows, the 
remains were not always in the most inviting condition for 
the administrations of the sexton. Then, again, during the 
summer season, when the army made a halt for rest and 
recruiting, another sacrifice of glanders-infected and gen- 
erally used-up horses was made to the god of war. But 
as they were not always promptly committed to mother 
earth, either from a desire to show a decent respect for the 
memory of the deceased or for some other reason best known 
to the red-tape of military rule, the odors that were wafted 
from them on the breezes were wont to become far more 
"spicy" than agreeable, so that a speedy interment was 
generally ordered by the military Board of Health. 

As soon as the nature of the business for which such a 
detail was ordered became generally known, the fun began, 



JONAHS AND BEATS. 103 

for a lively protest was wont to go up from the men against 
being selected to participate in the impending equine obse- 
quies. Perhaps the first objection heard from a victim who 
has drawn a prize in the business is that •' he was on guard 
the day before, and is not yet physically competent for such 
a detail." The sergeant is charged with unfairness, and 
with having pets that he gives all the " soft jobs " to, etc. 
But the warrior of the triple chevron is inexorable, and his 
muttering, much injured subordinate finally reports to the 
corporal in charge of the detail in front of the camp, be- 
traying in his every word and movement a heart-felt desire 
for his term of service or this cruel war to be over. 

Another one whom his sergeant has booked for the enter- 
prise has got wind of what is to be done, so that when found 
he is tucked up in his bunk. He stoutly insists that he is 
an invalid, and is only waiting for the next sounding of 
"Sick call" to respond to it. But his attack is so sudden, 
and his language and lungs so strong for a sick man, that he 
finds it difficult to establish his claim. He calls on his tent- 
mates to swear that he is telling the truth, but finds them 
strangely devout and totally ignorant of his ailments, for 
they are clnickling internally at their own good fortune in 
not being selected, which, if he proves his case, one of them 
mai/ be ; so, unless his plea is a pitiful and deserving one, 
they keep mum. 

A third victim does not claim to have been selected out 
of turn, but nevertheless alleges that " the deal is unfair, 
because he was on the last detail but one inade for this 
horse-burying business, and he does not think that he ought 
to be the chief mourner for his detachment, for a paltry 
thirteen dollars a month. Besides, there may be others who 
would like to go on this detail." But as he is unable to 
name or find the man or men having this highly refined 
ambition he finally goes off grumbling and joins the squad. 

A fourth victim is the constitutionally high-tempered and 
profane man. He finds no fault with the justice of the ser- 



104 



BABD TACK AND COFFEE. 




THE HIGlI-TEMrERED MAN. 



geant in assigning to liim a participation in the ceremonies 
of the hour ; but he had got comfortably seated to write a let- 
ter when the summons came, and, pausing only long enough 

to inquire the nature of the 
detail, he pitches his half-writ- 
ten letter and materials in one 
dii'ection, his lai>board in an- 
other, gets up, kicks over the 
box or stool on which he was 
sitting, pulls on his cap with a 
vehement jerk, and then opens 
his battery. He directs none 
of his unmilitary English at the 
sergeant — that would hardly 
do ; but he lays liis furious lash 
upon the poor innocent back of 
the government, though just 
what branch of it is responsible 
lie does not pause between his oaths long enough to state. 
He pursues it with the most terrible of curses uphill, and 
then with like violent language follows it down. He blank 
blanks the whole blaidc blank war, and hopes that the 
South ma}'- win. He wishes that all the blank horses were 
in blank, and adds b}^ way of self-reproach that it serves 
any one, who is such a blank blank fool as to enlist, 
right to have this blaidc, filthy, disgusting work to do. 
And he leaves the stockade shutting the door behind him 
"with a wooden damn," as Holmes says, and goes off to 
report, making the air blue with his cursing. Let me say 
for this man, before leaving him, that he is not so hardened 
and bad at heart as he makes himself appear ; and in the 
shock of battle he will be found standing manfully at his 
post minus his temper and profanity. 

There is one more man whom I will describe here, repre- 
senting another class than either mentioned, whose unlucky 
star has fated liim to take a part in these obsequies ; but he 



JONAHS AND BEATS. 



105 




THE PAPEK-COLl.AK YOUNG 
MAN. 



is not a shirk nor a beat. He is the paper-collar young man^ 
just from the recruiting station, with enamelled long-legged 
boots and custom-made clothes, who 
yet looks with some measure of dis- 
dain on government clothing, and 
yet eats in a most gingerly way of 
the stern, unpoetical government ' 
rations. He is an only son, and 
was a dry -goods clerk in the city 
at home, where no reasonable want 
went ungratified ; and now, when 
he is summoned forth to join the 
burial party, he responds at once. 
True, his heart and stomach both 
revolt at the work ahead, but lie 
wants to be — not an angel — but 
a veteran among veterans, and his 
pride prevents his entering any re- 
monstrance in the presence of the older soldiers. As he 
clutches the spade pointed out to him with one hand he 
shoves the other vacantly to the bottom of liis breeches 
pocket, his mouth drawn down codfish-like at the corners. 
He attempts to appear indifferent as he approaches the detail, 
and as they congratulate him on his good-fortune a sickly 
smile plays over his countenance ; but it is Mark Tapley feign- 
ing a jollity which he does not feel and which soon subsides 
into a pale melancholy. His fellow-victims feel their ill-luck 
made more endurable by seeing him also drafted for the 
loathsome task ; but their glow of satisfaction is only super- 
ficial and speedily wanes as the officer of the day, who is to 
superintend the job, appears and orders them forward. 

And now the fitness of the selection becomes apparent as 
the squad moves off, for a more genuine body of mourners, 
to the eye, could not have been chosen. Their faces, with, 
it may be, a hardened or indifferent exception, wear the 
most solemn of expressions, and their step is as slow as if 



106 



UAED TACK AND COFFEE. 



they were following a muffled drum beating the requiem of 
a deceased comrade. 

Having arrived at the place of sepulture, the first business 
is to dig a grave close to each body, so that it may be easily 
rolled in. But if there has been no fun before, it commences 
when the rolling in begins. The Hardened Exception, wlio 




THE MOURNERS. 



has occupied much of liis time while digging in sketching 
distasteful pictures for the Profane Man to swear at, now 
makes a change of base, and calls upon the Paper-Collar 
Young Man to " take hold and help roll in," which the young 
man reluctantly and gingerly does ; but when the noxious 
gases begin to make their presence manifest, and the Hard- 
ened Wretch hands him an axe to break the legs that would 
otherwise protrude from the grave, it is the last straw to an 
already overburdened sentimental soul ; his emotions over- 
power him, and, turning his back on the deceased, he utters 
something which sounds like "hurrah! without the h," as 
Mark Twain puts it, repeating it with increasing emphasis. 
But he is not to express his enthusiasm on this question 
alone a great while. Tliere are more sympathizers in the 



JONAHS AND BEATS. 



107 



party than he had anticipated, and not recruits either ; and 
in less time than I have taken to relate it more than half 
the detail, gallantly led off by the officer of the day, are 
standing about, leaning over at various angles like the tomb- 
stones in an old cemetery, disposing of their hardtack and 
coffee, and looking as if ready to throw up even the con- 




IIUUKAH WITHOUT THE H." 



tract. The profane man is among them, and just as often 
as he can catch his breath long enough he blank blanks the 
government and then dives again. The rest of the detail 
stand not far away holding on to their sides and roaring 
with laughter. But I must drop the curtain on this picture. 
It has been said that one touch of nature makes the wliole 
world kin. Be that as it may, certain it is that the officer, 
the good duty soldier, the recruit, and the beat, after an 
occasion of this kind, had a common bond of sympathy, 
wliich went far towards levelling military distinctions be- 
tween them. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ARMY RATIONS : WHAT THEY WERE. HOW THEY WERE 

DISTRIBUTED. — HOW THEY WERE COOKED. 



" Here's a pretty mess I " 

The Mikado. 

"God bless tlie pudding, 
God bless the meat, 
God bless us all; 
Sit down and eat." 

A Harvard Student's Blessing, 1796. 

ALL in for your rations, Company 
A ! " My theme is Army Rations. 
And while what I have to say on 
this subject may be applicable to 
all of the armies of the Union in 
large measure, yet, as they did not 
fare just alike, I will say, once for 
all, that my descriptions of army life 
pertain, when not otherwise speci- 
fied, especially to that life as it was 
lived in the Army of the Potomac. 
In beginning, I wish to say that 
a false impression has obtained more 
or less currency both with regard 
to the quantity and quality of the 
food furnished the soldiers. I have 
been asked a great many times whether I always got enough 
to eat in the army, and have surprised inquirers by answer- 
ing in the affirmative. Now, some old soldier may say who 
sees my reply, " Well, you were lucky. I didn't." But I 
should at once ask him to tell me for how long a time his 
regiment was ever without food of some kind. Of course, 

108 




ARMY RATIONS. 



109 



I am not now referring to our prisoners of war, who starved 
by the thousands. And I should be very much surprised 
if he should say more than twenty-four or thirty hours, at 
the outside. I would grant that he himself might, perhaps, 
have been so situated as to be deprived of food a longer 
time, possibly when he was on an exposed picket post, or 
serving as rear-guard to the army, or doing something which 
separated him temporarily from his company ; but his case 




THE COOPER SHOl', PHILADELPHIA. 

would be the exception and not the rule. Sometimes, when 
active operations were in progress, the army was compelled 
to wait a few hours for its trains to come up, but no general 
hardship to the men ever ensued on this account. Such a 
contingency was usually known some time in advance, and 
the men would husband their last issue of rations, or, per- 
haps, if the country admitted, would make additions to their 
bill of fare in the shape of poultry or pork; — usually it was 
the latter, for the Southerners do not pen up their swine as 
do the Northerners, but let them go wandering about, get- 
ting their living much of the time as best they can. Tliis 



110 11 ABB TACK AND COFFEE. 

led some one to say jocosely, with no disrespect intended to 
the people however, " that every other person one meets on 
a Southern street is a hog." They certainly were quite 
abundant, and are to-day, in some form, the chief meat food 
of that section. But on the point of scarcity of rations I 
believe my statement will be generally agreed to by old 
soldiers. 

Now, as to the quality the case is not quite so clear, but 
still the picture has been often overdrawn. There were, it 
is true, large quantities of stale beef or salt horse — as the 
men were wont to call it — served out, and also rusty, un- 
wholesome pork ; and I presume the word " hardtack " sug- 
gests to the uninitiated a piece of 23etrified bread honey- 
combed with bugs and maggots, so much has this article 
of army diet been reviled by soldier and civilian. Indeed, 
it is a rare occurrence for a soldier to allude to it, even at 
this late day, without some reference to its hardness, the 
date of its manufacture, or its propensity for travel. But in 
spite of these unwholesome rations, whose existence no one 
calls in question, of which I have seen — I must not say 
eaten — large quantities, I think the government did well, 
under the circumstances, to furnish the soldiers with so good 
a quality of food as they averaged to receive. Unwholesome 
rations were not the rule, they were the exception, and it 
was not the fault of the government that these were fur- 
nished, but very often the intent of the rascally, thieving 
contractors who supplied them, for which they received the 
price of good rations ; or, perhaps, of the iDspectors, who 
were in league with the contractors, and who therefore did 
not alwaj^s do their duty. No language can be too strong to 
express the contempt every patriotic man, woman, and child 
must feel for such small-souled creatures, many of whom are 
to-day rolling in the riches acquired in this way and other 
ways equally disreputable and dishonorable. 

I will now give a complete list of the rations served out to 
the rank and file, as I remember them. They were salt pork, 



AEMY RATIONS. 



Ill 



fresh beef, salt beef, rarely ham or bacon, hard bread, soft 
bread, potatoes, an occasional onion, flour, beans, split pease, 
rice, dried apples, dried peaches, desiccated vegetables, coffee, 
tea, sugar, molasses, vinegar, candles, soap, pepper, and salt. 
It is scarcely necessary to state that these were not all 
served out at one time. There was but one kind of meat 
served at once, and this, to use a Hibernianism, was usually 




THE UNION VOLUNTEER SALOON, PHILADELPHIA. 

pork. When it was hard bread, it wasn't soft bread or flour, 
and when it was pease or beans it wasn't rice. 

Here is just what a single ration comprised, that is, what a 
soldier was entitled to have in one day. He should have had 
twelve ounces of pork or bacon, or one pound four ounces 
of salt or fresh beef; one pound six ounces of soft bread or 
flour, or one pound of hard bread, or one pound four ounces 
of corn meal. With every hundred such rations there should 
have been distributed one peck of beans or pease ; ten pounds 
of rice or hominy ; ten pounds of green coffee, or eight 
pounds of roasted and ground, or one pound eight ounces 
of tea; fifteen pounds of sugar; one pound four ounces of 
candles ; four pounds of soap ; two quarts of salt ; four 



112 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

quarts of vinegar ; four ounces of pepper ; a half bushel of 
potatoes when practicable, and one quart of molasses. De- 
siccated potatoes or desiccated compressed vegetables might 
be substituted for the beans, pease, rice, hominy, or fresh 
potatoes. Vegetables, the dried fruits, pickles, and pickled 
cabbage were occasionally issued to prevent scurvy, but in 
small quantities. 

But the ration thus indicated was a camp ration. Here 
is the marching ration: one pound of hard bread; three - 
fourths of a pound of salt pork, or one and one-fourth 
pounds of fresh meat ; sugar, coffee, and salt. The beans, 
rice, soap, candles, etc., were not issued to the soldier when 
on the march, as he could not carry them ; but, singularly 
enough, as it seems to me, unless the troops went into camp 
before the end of the month, where a regular depot of sup- 
plies might be established from which the other parts of the 
rations could be issued, they were forfeited^ and reverted to 
the goveryiment — an injustice to the rank and file, who, 
through no fault of their own, were thus cut off from a part 
of their allowance at the time when they were giving most 
liberally of their strength and perhaps of their very heart's 
blood. It was possible for company commanders and for no 
one else to receive the equivalent of these missing parts of 
the ration iii cash from the brigade commissary, with the 
expectation that when thus received it would be distributed 
among the rank and file to whom it belonged. Many officers 
did not care to trouble themselves with it, but many others 
did, and — forgot to pay it out afterwards. I have yet to 
learn of the first company whose members ever received 
any revenue from such a source, although the name of Com- 
pany Fund is a familiar one to every veteran. 

The commissioned officers fared better in camp than the 
enlisted men. Instead of drawing rations after the manner 
of the latter, they had a certain cash allowance, according 
to rank, with which to purchase supplies from the Brigade 
Commissary, an official whose province was to keep stores 



ABMY BATIONS. Hg 

on sale for their convenience. The monthly allowance of 
officers in infantry, including servants, was as follows: 
Colonel, six rations worth $56, and two servants ; Lieuten- 




A BRIGADE COMMISSARY AT 
BRANDY STATION, VA. 



ant-Colonel, five ra- 
tions Avorth $45, and 
two servants ; Major, 

four rations worth $36, and two servants ; Captain, four ra- 
tions worth $36, and one servant ; First and Second Lieuten- 
ants, jointly, the same as Captains. In addition to the 
above, the field officers had an allowance of horses and 
forage proportioned to their rank. 

I will speak of the rations more in detail, beginning with 
the hard bread, or, to use the name by which it was known 
in the Arni}^ of the Potomac, Hardtach. What was hard- 
tack? It was a plain flour-and-water biscuit. Two which 
I have in iny possession as mementos measure three and 
one-eighth by two and seven-eighths inches, and are nearly 
half an inch thick. Although these biscuits were furnished 
to organizations by weight, they were dealt out to the men 
by number, nine constituting a ration in some regiments, 
and ten in others ; but tliere were usually enough for those 
who wanted more, as some men would not draw them. 
While hardtack was nutritious, yet a hungry man could eat 
his ten in a short time and still be hungry. When they were 
poor and fit objects for the soldiers' wrath, it was due to one 



114 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



of three conditions : First, they may have been so hard that 
they could not be bitten ; it then required a very strong- 
blow of the fist to break them. The cause of this hardness 
it would be difficult for one not an expert to determine. 



f7^ ^^( - ,; 77 ,(,., T^7^r^77>r; :iuiii'-'ii,iiitii( n ^"■f(('in,({ii"i<' 




A HAUD-TACR — FULL SIZE. 



This variety certainly well deserved their name. They could 
not be soaked soft, but after a time took on the elasticity of 
gutta-percha. 

The second condition was when they were mouldy or wet, 
as sometimes happened, and should not have been given to 
the soldiers. I think this condition was often due to their 
having been boxed up too soon after baking. It certainly 



AEMY RATIONS. 115 

was freqiientj}^ due to exposure to the weather. It was no 
uncommon sight to see thousands of boxes of hard bread 
piled up at some railway station or other place used as a 
base of supplies, where they were only imperfectly sheltered 
from the weather, and too often not sheltered at all. The 
failure of inspectors to do their full duty was one reason 
that so many of this sort reached the rank and' file of the 
service. 

The third condition was when from storage they had be- 
come infested with maggots and weevils. These weevils 
were, in my experience, more abundant than the maggots. 
They were a little, slim, brown bug an eighth of an inch in 
length, and were great bores on a small scale, having the 
ability to completely riddle the hardtack. I believe they 
never interfered with the hardest variety. 

When the bread was mouldy or moist, it was thrown away 
and made good at the next drawing, so that the men were 
not the losers ; but in the case of its being infested with the 
weevils, they had to stand it as a rule ; for the biscuits had 
to be pretty thoroughly alive, and well covered with the webs 
which these creatures left, to insure condemnation. An ex- 
ception occurs to me. Two cargoes of hard bread came to 
City Point, and on being examined by an inspector were 
found to be infested with weevils. This fact was brought to 
Grant's attention, who would not allow it landed, greatly to 
the discomfiture of the contractor, who had been attempting 
to bulldoze the inspector to pass it. 

The quartermasters did not alwaj^s take as active an inter- 
est in righting such matters as they should have done ; and 
when the men growled at them, of course they were virtu- 
ously indignant and prompt to shift the responsibility to the 
next higher power, and so it passed on until the real culprit 
could not be found. 

But hardtack was not so bad an article of food, even when 
traversed by insects, as may be supposed. Eaten in the dark, 
no one could tell tlie difference between it and hardtack that 



116 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



was untenanted. It was no uncommon occurrence for a man 
to find the surface of his pot of coffee swimming with weevils, 
after breaking up hardtack in it, which had come out of the 
fragments only to drown ; but they were easily skimmed off, 
and left no distinctive flavor behind. If a soldier cared to do 




A BOX OF HARDTACK. 



so, he could expel the weevils by heating the bread at the fire. 
The maggots did not budge in that way. The most of the 
hard bread was made in Baltimore, and put up in boxes of 
sixty pounds gross, fift}^ pounds net ; and it is said that some 
of the storehouses in which it was kept would swarm with 
weevils in an incredibly short time after the first box was 
infested with them, so rapidly did these pests multiply. 

Having gone so far, I know the reader will be interested 
to learn of the styles in which this particular article was- 
served up by the soldiers. I say styles because I think there 
must have been at least a score of ways adopted to make 
this s,\\n\Ae fiour tile more edible. Of course, many of them 
were eaten just as they were received — hardtack plaiii ; 
then I have already spoken of their being crumbed in coffee, 
giving the " hardtack and coffee." Probably more were eaten 
in this way than in any other, for they thus frequently fur- 
nished the soldier his breakfast and supper. But there were 



ABMY RATIONS. 



117 



other and more appetizing ways of preparing them. Many 
of the soldiers, partly through a slight taste for the business 
but more from force of circumstances, became in their way 
and opinion experts in the art of cooking the greatest variety 
of dishes with the smallest amount of capital. 

Some of these crumbed them in soups for want of other 
thickening. For this purpose they served very well. Some 




FKYIN<i HARDTACK. 



crumbed them in cold water, then fried the crumbs in the 
juice and fat of meat. A dish akin to this one, which was 
said to "make the hair curl," and certainly was indigestible 
enough to satisfy the cravings of the most ambitious dys- 
peptic, was prepared by soaking hardtack in cold water, then 
frying them brown in pork fat, salting to taste. Another 
name for this dish was " skillygalee." Some liked them 
toasted, either to crumb in coffee, or, if a sutler was at 
hand whom they could patronize, to butter. The toasting 
generally took place from the end of a split stick, and if 
perchance they dropped out of it into the camp-hre, and 
were not recovered quickly enough to prevent them from 
getting pretty w^ell charred, they were not thrown away on 
that account, being then thought good for weak bowels. 



118 HABB TACK AND COFFEE. 

Then they worked into milk-toast made of condensed 
milk at seventy-five cents a can ; but only a recruit with a 
big bounty, or an old vet the child of wealthy parents, or a 
re-enlisted man did much in that way. A few who succeeded 
by hook or by crook in saving up a portion of their sugar 
ration spread it \\])0\\ hardtack. The hodge-podge of lob- 
scouse also contained this edible among its divers other 
ingredients ; and so in various ways the ingenuity of the 
men was taxed to make this plainest and commonest yet 
most serviceable of army food to do diity in every conceiv- 
able combination. ! There is an old song, entitled " Hard 
Times," which some one in the army parodied. I do not 
remember the verses, but the men used to sing the following 
chorus : — 

'Tis the song of the soldier, weary, hungry, and faint. 

Hardtack, hardtack, come again no more ; 
Many days have I chewed you and uttered no complaint, 

O Greenbacks, come again once more I 

It is possible at least that tliis song, sung by the soldiers 
of the Army of the Potomac, was an outgrowth of the fol- 
lowing circumstance and song. I am quite sure, however, 
that the verses were different. 

For some weeks before the battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., 
where the lamented Lyon fell, the First Iowa Regiment had 
been supplied with a very poor quality of hard bread (they 
were not then (1861) called hardfac^). During this period 
of hardship to the regiment, so the story goes, one of its 
members was inspired to produce the following touching 
lamentation : — 



Let us close our game of poker, 

Take our tin cups in our hand. 

While we gather round the cook's tent door, 

Where dry mummies of hard crackers 

Are given to each man; 

O hard crackers, come again no more! 



ARMY EATIONS. 110 

Chokus: — 'Tis the song and sigh of the hungry, 

" Hard crackers, hard crackers, come again no more! 
Many days have you Hngered upon our stomachs sore, 
O hard crackers, come again no more!" 

There's a hungry, thirsty soldier 

Who wears his life away, 

With torn clothes, whose better days are o'er ; 

He is sighing now for whiskey, 

And, with throat as dry as hay, 

Sings, " Hard crackers, come again no more!"— Chokus. 

'Tis the song that is uttered 
In camp by night and day, 
'Tis the wail that is mingled with each snore, 
'Tis the sighing of the soul 
For spring chickens far away, 
" O hard crackers, come again no more !" — Chorus. 

When General Lyon heard the men singing these stanzas 
in their tents, he is said to have been moved by them to 
the extent of ordering the cook to serve up corn-meal mush, 
for a change, when the song received the following altera- 
tion : — 

But to groans and to murmurs 

There has come a sudden hush, 

Our frail forms are fainting at the door ; 

We are starving now on horse-feed 

That the cooks call mush, 

O hard crackers, come again once more ! 

Chorus:— It is the dying wail of the starving. 

Hard crackers, hard crackers, come again once more ; 
You were old and very wormy, but we pass your failings 

o'er. 
O hard crackers, come again once more! 

The name hardtack seems not to have been in general use 
among the men in the Western armies. 

But I now pass to consider the other bread ration — the 
loaf or soft bread. Early in the war the ration of flour was 
served out to the men uncooked ; but as the eighteen ounces 



120 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 




AN ARMY OVEN. 



allowed by the government more tlian met the needs of tlie 
troops, who at that time obtained much of their livino- from 
outside sources (to be spoken of hereafter), it was allowed, 
as they innocently supposed, to be sold for the benefit of the 
Company Fund, already referred to. Some organizations 

drew, on requisition, 
ovens, semi-cylindrical 
in form, which were 
properly set in stone, 
and in these regimen- 
tal cooks or bakers 
baked bread for the 
regiment. But all of 
this was in the tenta- 
tive period of the war. 
As rapidly as the needs 
of the troops pressed home to the government, they were 
met with such despatch and ethciencj^ as circumstances 
would permit. For a time, in 1861, the vaults under the 
broad terrace on the western front of the Capitol were con- 
verted into bakeries, where sixteen thousand loaves of bread 
were baked daily. The chimneys from the ovens pierced 
the terrace where now the freestone pavement joins the 
grassy slope, and for months smoke poured out of these in 
dense black volumes. The greater part of the loaves sup- 
plied to the Army of the Potomac up to the summer of 186-± 
were baked in Washington, Alexandria, and at Fort Monroe, 
Virginia. The ovens at the latter place had a capacity of 
thirty thousand loaves a day. But even with all these 
.sources worked to their uttermost, brigade commissaries 
were obliged to set up ovens near their respective depots, 
to eke out enough bread to fill orders. These were erected 
on the sheltered side of a hill or woods, then enclosed in a 
stockade, and the whole covered with old canvas. 

When the army reached the vicinity of Petersburg, the 
supply of fresh loaves became a matter of greater difficulty 



/li?.Vr BATIOXS. 



121 



and delay, whicli Grant immediately obviated by ordering 
ovens bnilt at City Point. A large number of citizen bakers 
were employed to run them night and day, and as a result 
one hundred and twenty-three thousand fresh loaves were 
furnished the army daily from this single source ; and so 
closely did the delivery of these follow upon the manipu- 
lations of the bakers that the soldiers quite frequently 




SOFT BREAD. 
Commissary Department, Heaflquarters Army of the Potomac, Captain J. 11. Coxe. 

received them while yet warm from the oven. Soft bread 
was always a very welcome change from hard bread ; yet, 
on the other hand, I thiidv the soldiers tired sooner of the 
former than of the latter. Men who had followed the sea 
preferred the hard bread. Jeffersonville, in Southern Indi- 
ana, was the headquarters from which bread was largely 
supplied to the Western armies. 

I began my description of the rations with the bread as 
being the most important one to the soldier. Some old 
veterans may be disposed to question the judgment which 
gives it this rardc, and claim that coffee, of which I shall 
speak next, should take first place in importance; in reply 



122 



HABIJ TACK AND COFFEE. 



to which 1 will simply say that he is Avrong, because coffee, 
being a stimulant, serves only a temporary purpose, while 
the bread has yearly or quite all the elements of nutrition 
necessary to build up the wasted tissues of the body, thus 
conferring a permanent benefit. Whatever words of con- 
demnation or criticism may have been bestowed on other 
o-overnment rations, there was l)ut one opinion of the coffee 
which was served out, and that was of unqualified approval. 
The rations may have been small, the commissary or quar- 
termaster may have given us a short allowance, but what we 




APPORTIONING COFFEE AND ^SUGAK. 

got was good. And what a perfect Godsend it seemed to us 
at times! How often, after being completely jaded by a 
night march, — and this is an experience common to thou- 
sands,— have I had a wash, if there was water to be had, 
made and drunk my pint or so of coffee, and felt as fresh 
and invigorated as if just arisen from a night's sound sleep '. 
At such times it could seem to have had no substitute. 

It would have interested a civilian to observe the manner 

■ in which this ration was served out when the army was m 

active service. It was usually brought to camp in an oat- 

saclc, a regimental quartermaster receiving and apportioning 



ARMY llATIO^^S. 123 

his aniuug the ten companies, unci the quartermaster-sergeant 
of a battery aj)portioning his to tlie four or six detachments. 
Then tlie oi'derly-sergeant of a company or the sergeant of 
a detachment must devote himself to dividing it. One 
method of accomplishing this purpose was to spread a rub- 
ber blanket on the ground, — more than one if the company 
was large, — and upon it were put as many piles of the coffee 
as there were men to receive rations ; and the care taken to 
make the piles of the same size to the eye, to keep the men 
from growling, would remind one of a country physician 
making his powders, taking a little from one pile and adding 
to another. The sugar which always accompanied the coffee 
was spooned out at the same time on another blaid^et. 
When both were ready, they w^ere given out, each man 
taking a pile, or, in some companies, to prevent any charge 
of unfairness or injustice, the sergeant woidd turn his back 
on the rations, and take out his roll of the company. Then, 
by request, some one else would point to a pile and ask, 
" Who shall have this ? " and the sergeant, without turning, 
would call a ]iame from his list of the company or detach- 
ment, and the person thus called would appropriate the pile 
specified. This process would be continued until the last 
pile was disposed of. There were other plans for distribu- 
ting tlie rations ; but I have described this one because of its 
being quite common. 

The manner in which each man disposed of his coffee and 
sugar ration after receiving it is worth noting. Every soldier 
of a month's experience in campaigning was provided with 
some sort of bag into which he spooned his coffee ; but the 
kind of bag he used indicated pretty accurately, in a general 
way, the length of time he liad been in the service. For exam- 
ple, a raw recruit just arrived would take it up in a paper, and 
stow it away in that well known receptacle for all eatables, 
the soldier's haversack, onl}- to find it a part of a general 
mixture of hardtack, salt pork, pepper, salt, knife, fork, 
spoon, sugar, and coffee by the time the next halt was made. 



1-24: BAUD TACK AND COFFEE. 

A i-ecruit of lunger standing, who hud been through this 
experience and had begun to feel his wisdoni-teetli coming, 
would take his up in a bag made of a scrap of rubber 
blanket or a poncho ; but after a few days carrying the rub- 
ber would peel off or the paint of the po7icho would rub off 
from contact with the greasy pork or boiled meat ration 
which was its travelling companion, and make a l)lack, dirty 
mess, besides leaving the coffee-bag unfit for further use. 
Now and then some young soldier, a little starchier than his 
fellows, would bring out an oil-silk bag lined with cloth, 
which his motiier had made and sent him ; but even oil-silk 
couldn't stand everything, certainly not the peculiar inside 
furnishings of tiie average soldier's haversack, so it too 
was not long in yielding. But your plain, straightforward 
old veteran, who had shed all his poetry and romance, if he 
had ever possessed any, who had roughed it up and down 
" Old Virginny," man and boy, for many months, and who 
had tried all plans under all circumstances, took out an 
oblong plain cloth bag, which looked as inunaculate as the 
everv-day shirt of a coal-heaver, and into it scooped with- 
out ceremony both his sugar and coffee, and stirred them 
thoroughly together. 

There was method in this plan. He had learned from a 
hard experience that his sugar was a better investment thus 
disposed of than in any other way; for on several occasions 
he had eaten it with his hardtack a little at a time, had got 
it wet and melted in a rain, or, what happened fully as often, 
liad sweetened his coffee to liis taste wlien the sugar was 
kept separate, and in consequence had several messes of 
coffee to drink ivithoiit sweetening, which was uot to his 
taste. There was now and then a man who could keep the 
two separate, sometimes in different ends of tlie same bag, 
and serve them up proportionall}*. The reader already 
knows that milk was a luxury in the arn^y. It was a new 
experience for all soldiers to drink coffee without milk. 
But they soon learned to make a virtue of a necessity, and 



ARMY BATIONS. 



125 



I doubt whether one man in ten, before the war closed, 
would have used tlie lactic liuid in his coffee from choice. 
Condensed milk of two brands, the Lewis and Borden^ was 
to be had at the sutler's when sutlers were handy, and occa- 
sionally milk was brought in from the udders of stray cows, 
the men milking them into their canteens ; but this was 
early in the war. Later, war-swept Virginia afforded very 
few of these brutes, for they were regarded by the armies as 
more valuable for beef than for milking purposes, and only 
those survived that were kept apart from lines of march. 




THE MILK RATION. 



Tn many instances they were the chief reliance of Soutliern 
families, whose able-bodied men were in the Rebel army, 
servinff both as a source of nourishment and as beasts of 
burden. 

When the army was in settled camp, company cooks gen- 
erally pre[)ai'ed the rations. These cooks were men selected 
from the company, who had a taste or an ambition for the 
business. If there were none such, turns were taken at it ; 
l)ut this did not often happen, as the office excused men 
from all other duty. 

When com})any cooks pi-epared the food, the soldiers, at 



126 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



the bugle signal, formed single file at the cook-house door, in 
winter, or the cook's open lire, in summer, where, with a 
long-handled dipper, he filled each man's tin with coffee 
from the mess kettles, and dispensed to him such other food 
as was to be given out at that meal. 

For various reasons, some of which I have previously 
hinted at, the coffee made by these cooks was of a ver}^ in- 







THE COMPANY (OOK. 



ferior quality and 
unpleasant to taste 
at times. It was 
not to be compar- 
ed in excellence 
with what the men 
made for themselves. I think that when the soldiers were 
first thrown upon their own resources to prepare their food, 
they almost invariably cooked their coffee in the tin dipper 
with which all were provided, holding from a pint to a quart, 
perhaps. But it was an unfortunate dish for the purpose, 
forever tipping over and spilling the coffee into the fire, 
either because the coals burned away beneath, or because 
the Jonah upset it. Then if the fire was new and blazing, it 
sometimes needed a hand that could stand heat like a steam 
safe to get it when it was wanted, with the chance in favor 
of more than half of the coffee boiling out before it was 
rescued, all of which was conducive to ill-temper, so that 



AEMY PiATIONS. 129 

such utensils would soon disappear, and a recruit would 
afterwards be seen with his pint or <|uart preserve can, its 
improvised wire bail held on the end of a stick, boiling his 
coffee at the camp-fire, happy in the security of his ration 
from Jonahs and other casualties. His can soon became as 
black as the blackest, inside and out. This was the typical 
coffee-boiler of the private soldier, and had the advantage of 
being easily replaced when lost, as canned goods were in 
very general use by commissioned officers and hospitals. 
Besides this, each man was generally supplied with a small 
tin cup as a drinking-cup for his coffee and water. 

The coffee ration was most heartily ap})reciated by the 
soldier. When tired and foot-sore, he would drop out of 
the marching column, build his little camp-fire, cook his 
mess of coffee, take a nap behind the nearest shelter, and, 
when he woke, hurry on to overtake his company. Such 
men were sometimes called stragglers; but it could, obviously, 
have no offensive meaning when applied to them. Tea was 
served so rarely that it does not merit any particular de- 
scription. In the latter part of the war, it was rarely seen 
outside of hospitals. 

One of the most interesting scenes presented in array life 
took place at night when the army was on the point of 
bivouacking. As soon as this fact became known along the 
column, each man would seize a rail from the nearest fence, 
and with this additional arm on the shoulder would enter 
the proposed camping-ground. In no more time than it 
takes to tell the story, the little camp-fires, rapidly increasing 
to hundreds in number, would shoot up along the hills and 
plains, and as if by magic acres of territory would be lumi- 
nous with them. Soon they, would be surrounded by the 
soldiers, who made it an almost invariable rule to cook their 
coffee first, after which a large number, tired out with the 
toils of the day, would make their sujiper of hardtack and 
coffee, and roll up in their blankets for the night. If a 
march was ordered at midnight, unless a surprise was in- 



180 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

tended, it must be preceded by a pot of coffee ; if a halt 
was ordered in mid-forenoon or afternoon, tlie same dish was 
inevitable, with liardtack accompaniment usually. It w^as 
coffee at meals and between meals ; and men o^oino- on o-uard 
or coming off guard drank it at all hours of the night, and 
to-day the old soldiers who can stand it are the hardest 
coffee-drinkers in the community, through the schooling 
which they received in the service. 

At a certain period in the war, speculators bought up all 
the coffee there was in the market, with a view of compel- 
ling the government to pay them a very high price for the 
army suppl}^ ; but on learning of their action the agents of 
the United States in England were ordered to purchase 
several shipdoads then anchored in the English Channel. 
The ])urchase was effected, and the coffee " corner" tumbled 
in ruins. 

At one time, when the government had advertised for bids 
to furnish the armies with a certain amount of coffee, one 
Sawyer, a member of a prominent New York im})orting firm, 
met the oovernment official having the matter in charo-e — 
I think it was General Joseph H. Eaton — on the street, and 
anxiously asked him if it was too late to enter another bid, 
saying that he had been figuring the matter over carefully, 
and found that he could make a bid so much a pound lower 
than his first proposal. General Eaton replied that wdiile 
the bids liad all been opened, yet they had not been made 
public, and the successful bidder had not been notified, so 
that no injustice could accrue to any one on that account; 
he would therefore assume the responsibility of taking his 
ncAV bid. Having done so, the General informed Sawyer 
that he was the lowest bidder, and that the government 
would take not only the amount asked for but all his firm 
had at its disposal at the same rate. But when General 
Eaton informed him that his firat bid was also lower than 
any other offered, Sawyei-'s rage at Eaton and disgust at his 
own undue ambition to bid a second time can be imagined. 



AR3IV RATIONS. 131 

The result was the saving of many thousaiuls of doUars to 
the government. 

I have stated that by Army Regulations the soldiers were 
entitled to either three-quarters of a jiound of pork or bacon 
oi- one and one-fourth pounds of fresh or salt beef. I have 
also stated, in substance, that when the army was settled 
down for a probable long stop company cooks did the cook- 
ing. But there was no uniformity about it, each company 
commander regulating the matter for his own command. It 
is safe to remark, however, that in the early history of each 
regiment the rations were cooked for its members by pei'sons 
especially selected for the duty, unless the regiment was sent 
at once into active service, in which case each man was im- 
mediately confronted with the problem of preparing his own 
food. In making this statement I ignore the experience 
which troops had before leaving their native State, for in the 
different State rendezvous I think the jiractice was general 
for cooks to prepare the rations; but their culinary skill — 
or lack of it — was little appreciated by men within easy 
reach of home, friends, and cooky shops, who displayed as 
yet no undue anxiety to anticipate the unromantic living- 
provided for Uncle Sam's patriot defenders. 

Having injected so much, by way of furtlier explanation I 
come now to speak of the manner in which, first, the fresh- 
meat ration was cooked. If it fell into the hands of the 
company cooks, it was fated to be boiled twenty-four times 
out of twenty-five. There are rare occasions on record when 
these cooks attempted to broil steak enough for a whole 
company, and they would have succeeded tolerably if this 
particular tid-bit could be found all the way through a steer, 
from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, but as it is 
only local and limited the amount of nice or even tolerable 
steak that fell to the lot of one company in its allowance 
was not very large. For this reason among others the cooks 
did not always receive the credit which they deserved for 
their efforts to change the diet or extend the variety on the 



132 lIAHn TACK AND COFFEE. 

bill of fare. Then, on occiisions equally rare, when the beef 
ration drawn was of such a nature as to admit of it, roast 
beef was prepared in ovens such as I have already described, 
and served "rare," "middling," or "well done." More fre- 
quently, yet not very often, a soup Avas made for a change, 
but it was usually boiled meat; and wiien this accumulated, 
tlie men sometimes fried it in pork fat for a change. 

.When the meat ration was served out raw to the men, to 
prepare after their own taste, although the variety of its 
cooking may not perhaps have been much greater, 3^et it 
gave more general satisfaction. The growls most commonly 
heard were that the cooks kept the largest or choicest por- 
tions for themselves, or else that they sent them to the 
company officers, who were not entitled to them. Some- 
times there was foundation for these complaints. 

In drawing his ration of meat from the commissary the 
quartermaster had to be governed by his last selection. If 
it was a hindquarter then, he must take' a forequarter the 
next time, so that it v/ill at once be seen, by those who know 
anything about beef, that it would not always cut up and 
distribute with the same acceptance. One man would get a 
good solid piece, the next a flabby one. When a ration of 
the latter description fell into the liands of a passionate man, 
such as I have described in another connection, he would 
instantl}' hurl it across the camp, and break out with such 
remarks as "something not being fit for hogs," "alwaj^s his 
blank luck," etc. There was likely to be a little something 
gained by this dramatic exhibition, for the distributor would 
give the actor a good piece for several times afterwards, to 
restrain his temper. 

The kind of piece drawn naturally determined its dispo- 
sition in the soldier's cuisine. If it was a stringy, flabby 
piece, straightway it was doomed to a dish of lobscouse, 
made with such other materials as were at hand. If onions 
were not in the larder, and they seldom were, the little garlic 
found in some places growing wild furnished a very accept- 



An Mr BATIOA'S. 



183 



able substitute. It" the meat was pretty solid, even though 
it had done duty wlieu in active service well down on the 
shank or shin, it was quite likely to be served as beefsteak. 
and prepared for the palate in one of two Avays : — either 
fried in pork fat, if pork was to be had, otherwise tallow fat, 
or impaled on a ramrod or forked stick ; it was then salted 
and peppered and broiled in the flames ; or it may liave been 
thrown on the coals. This broilino- was, I think, the favorite 




BKOILINCJ STEAKS. 



style with the oldest campaiguers. It certainly was more 
healthful and palatable cooked in this wise, and was the 
most convenient in active service, for any of the men could 
prepare it thus at short notice. 

The meat generally came to us quivering from the butch- 
er's knife, and was often eaten in less than two hours alter 
slaughtering. To fry it necessitated the taking along of a 
frying-pan with which not many of the men cared to burden 
themselves. These fry-pans — Marbleheadmen called them 
Creepers — were yet comparatively light, beiug made of thin 
wrought iron. They were of different sizes, and wei'e kept 



134 II AND TACK AY I) COFFEE. 

on sale by sutlers. It was a conunuu sight on the march to 
see tlieui borne aloft on a musket, to which they were 
lashed, or tucked beneath the straps of a knapsack. But 
there was another fr3'-pan which distanced these both in 
respect of lightness and space. The soldier called in his own 
ingenuity to aid him here as in so many other directions, 
and consequent!}^ the men could be seen by scores frying 
the food in their tin plate, held in the jaws of a split stick, 
or fully as often an old canteen was unsoldered and its 
concave sides mustered into active duty as fry-pans. The 
fresh-meat ration was thoroughly appreciated by the men, 
even though they rarely if ever got the full allowance stipu- 
lated in Army Regulations, for it was a relief from the salt 
l)ork, salt beef, or boiled fresh meat ration of settled camp. 
I remember one occasion in the ^line Run Campaign, during 
the last days of November, 1863, when the army was put on 
short beef rations, that the men cut and scraped off tlie 
little rain-bleached shreds of meat that remained on the head 
of a steer which lay near our line of battle at Robertson's 
Tavern. The animal had been slaughtered the day before, 
and what was left of its skeleton had been soaking in the 
rain, but not one ounce of muscular tissue could have been 
gleaned from the bones when our men left it. 

The liver, heart, and tongue were perquisites of the butch- 
er. For the liver, the usual price asked was a dollar, and 
for the heart or tongue fifty cents. 

The "salt horse " or salt beef, of fragrant memory, was 
rarely furnished to the army except when in settled camp, 
as it would obviously have been a poor dish to serve on the 
march, when water was often so scarce. But even in camp 
the men quite generally rejected it. Without doubt, it was 
the vilest ration distributed to the soldiers. 

It was thoroughly penetrated with saltpetre, was often 
yellow-green with rust from having lain out of brine, and, 
when boiled, was four times out of five if not nine times out 
of ten a stench in the nostrils, wliich no delicate palate cared 



ARMY RATIONS. 135 

to encounter at slnn'ter range. It sonietinies happened that 
the men wouhl extract a good deal of aniuseiuent out of 
this ration, when an extremely unsavory lot was served out, 
by arranging a funeral, making the appointments as com- 
plete as [)ossible, with bearers, a bier improvised of boards 
or a hardtack box, on which was the beef accompanied by 
scraps of old harness to indicate the original of the remains, 
and then, attended by solemn music and a mournful })roces- 
sion, it would be carried to the company sink and dumped, 
after a solemn munnnery of words liad been spoken, and a 
volley fired over its unhallowed grave. 

So salt was this ration that it was impossible to freshen 
it too much, and it was not an unusual occurrence for 
troops encamped by a running brook to tie a piece of this 
beef to the end of a cord, and throw it into the brook at 
night, to remain freshening until the following morning as a 
necessary preparative to cooking. 

Salt pork was the principal • meat ration — the main stay 
as it were. Company cooks boiled it. There was little else 
they could do with it, but it was an extremely useful ration 
to the men when served out raw. Tliey almost never boiled 
it, but, as I have already shown, much of it was used for 
frying purposes. On the march it was broiled and eaten 
with hard bread, while much of it was eaten raw, sand- 
wiched between hardtack. Of course it was used witli 
stewed as well as baked beans, ai)d was an ingredient of 
soups and lobscouse. Many of us have since learned to 
call it an indisrestible ration, but we ignored the existence 
of such a thing as a stomach in the army, and then regarded 
pork as an indispensable one. Much of it was musty and 
rancid, like the salt horse, and much more was flabby, 
stringy, "sow-belly," as the men called it, which, at this 
remove in distance, does not seem appetizing, however it 
may have seemed at the time. The government had a 
pork-packing factory of its own in Chicago, from which 
tons of tins ration were furnished. 



136 



UAUD TACK AND COFFEE. 



Once ill a while a ration of liain or bacon was dealt out 
to the soldiers, but of such quality that I do not retain very 
grateful renienibrances of it. It was usually black, rusty, 
and strong, and decidedly un[)opiilar. Once only do I recall 
a lot of smoked shoulders as being supplied to my company, 
which were very good. They were never duplicated. For 
that reason, I presume, they stand out prominently in 
memory. 

The bean ration was an important factor in the sustenance 
of the army, and no edible, I think, was so thoroughly ap- 
jjreciated. Company cooks stewed them with pork, and 




.■MESS KETlLliS AND A MESS PAN. 



when the pork was good and the stew or soup was well 
done and not burned, — a rare combination of circumstan- 
ces, — they were quite palatable in this way. Sometimes 
ovens were built of stones, on the top of the ground, and 
the beans were baked in these, in mess pans or kettles. But 
I think the most popular method was to bake them in the 
ground. This was the almost invariable course pursued b}' 
the soldiers when the beans were distributed f(n' them to 
cook. It was done in the following way : A hole was dug 
large enough to set a mess pan or kettle in, and have ample 
space around it besides. Mess kettles, let me explain here, 
are cylinders in shape, and made of heavy sheet iron. They 
are from thirteen to fifteen inches high, and vary in diameter 
from seven inches to a foot. A mess pan stands about six 
inches high, and is a foot in diameter at the top. I think 
one will hold nearly six quarts. To resume ; — in the bot- 
tom of the hole dug a flat stone was put, if it could be 



ARMY RATIONS. 137 

obtained, then a fire was Iniilt in the liole and kept burning 
some liours, tlie beans being prepared for baking meanwhile. 
Wlien all was ready, the coals were shovelled out, the kettle 
of beans and pork set in, with a board over the top, while 
the coals were shovelled back around the kettle ; some poles 
or boards were then laid across the hole, a piece of sacking 
or other material sj^read over the poles to exclude dirt, and 
a mound of earth piled above all; the net result of which, 
when the hole was opened the next morning, was the most 
enjoyable dish that fell to the lot of the common soldier. 
Baked beans at the homestead seemed at a discount in com- 
parison. As it was hardly practicable to bake a single 
ration of beans in this wajs or, indeed, in any way, a tent's 
crew either saved their allowance until enougli accumulated 
for a good baking, or a half-dozen men would form a joint 
stock company, and cook in a mess kettle ; and when tlie 
treasure was unearthed in early morning not a stockliolder 
would be absent from the roll-call, but all were promptly on 
hand with plate or coffee dipper to receive their dividends. 
Here is a post-bellum jingle sung to the music of "The 
Sweet By and By," in which some old veteran conveys the 
affection he still feels for this edible of precious memory: — 

THE ARMY BEAX. 

There's a spot that the soldiers all love, 

The mess-tent's the place that we mean, 
And the dish we best like to see there 

Is the old-fashioned, Avhite Army Bean. 

Chokus. — 'Tis the bean that we mean. 

And we'll eat as we ne'er ate before ; 
The Army Bean, nice and clean, 
We'll stick to our beans evermore. 

Now the bean, in its primitive state, 

Is a plant we have all often met ; 
And when cooked in the old army style 

It has charms we can never forget. — CiiORUS. 



138 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

The German is fond of sauer-kraut, 

The potato is loved by the Mick, 
But tlie soldiers have long since found out 

That through life to our beans we should stick. — Chorus. 

Boiled potatoes were furnished us occasionally in settled 
camp. On the marcli we varied the programme bv frying 
them. Onions, in my own company at least, were a great 
rarity, but highly appreciated when they did appear, even in 
homoeopathic quantities. They were pretty sure to appear 
on the army table, fried. 

Split peas were also drawn by the quartermaster now and 
then, and stewed with pork by the cooks for supper, making 
pea-soup, or "Peas on a Trencher"; but if my memory 
serves me right, they were a dish in no great favor, even 
when they were not burned in cooking, which was usually 
their fate. 

The dried-apple ration was supplied by the government, 
" to swell the ranks of the army," as some one wittily said. 
There seemed but one practicable way in which this could 
be prepared, and that was to stew it; thus cooked it made a 
sauce for hardtack. Sometimes dried peaches were furnished 
instead, but of such a poor quality that the apples, with the 
fifty per cent of skins and hulls which they contained, were 
considei'ed far preferable. 

At remote intervals the cooks gave for supper a dish of 
boiled rice (burned, of course), a sergeant spooning out a 
scanty allowance of molasses to bear it company. 

Occasionally, a ration of what was known as desiccated 
vegetables was dealt out. This consisted of a small piece 
per man, an ounce in weight and two or three inches cube of 
a sheet or block of vegetables, which had been prepared, and 
apparently kiln-dried., as sanitiXYy fodder for the soldiers. In 
composition it looked not unlike the large cheeses of beef- 
scraps that are seen in the markets. When put in soak for 
a time, so perfectly had it been dried and so firmly pressed 
that it swelled to an amazing extent, attaining to several 



ARMY RATIONS. 139 

times its dried proportions. In this pulpy state a favorable 
opportunity was afforded to analyze its composition. It 
seemed to show, and I think really did show, layers of cab- 
bage leaves and turnip tops stratified with layers of sliced 
carrots, turnips, parsnips, a bare suggestion of onions, — 
they were too valuable to waste in this compound, — and some 
other among known vegetable quantities, with a large resid- 
uum of insoluble and insolvable material which appeared to 
play the part of warp to the fabric, but which defied the 
powers of the analyst to give it a name. An inspector 
found in one lot wliich he examined pou'dered glass thickly 
sprinkled through it, apparently the work of a Confederate 
emissary ; but if not it showed how little care was exercised 
in preparing this diet for the soldier. In brief, this coarse 
vegetable compound could with much more propriety have 
been put before Southern swine than Northern soldiers. 
^' Desecrated vegetables " was the more appropriate name 
Avhich the men quite generally applied to this preparation 
of husks. 

I believe it was the Thirty-Second Massachusetts Infan- 
try which once had a special ration of three hundred 
boxes of strawberries dealt out to it. But if there was 
another organization in the army anywhere which had such 
a delicious experience, 1 have yet to hear of it. 

I })resume that no discussion of army rations would be 
considered complete that did not at least make mention of 
the whiskey ration so called. This was not a ration, prop- 
erly speaking. The government supplied it to the army 
only on rare occasions, and then by order of the medical 
department. I think it was never served out to my com- 
pany more than three or four times, and then during a cold 
rainstorm or after unusually hard service. Captain N. D. 
Preston of the Tenth New York Cavalr}', in describing 
Sheridan's raid to Richmond in the spring of 1864, recently, 
speaks of being instructed by his brigade commander to 
make a light issue of whiskey to the men of the brigade, 



140 HAnn TACK and coffee. 

and adds. " the first and only regular issue of whiskey I 
ever made or know of being made to an enlisted man." 
But altliough he belonged to the arm of the service called 
" the eyes and ears of the army," and was no doubt a gal- 
lant soldier, he is not well posted ; for men who belonged to 
other organizations in the Army of the Potomac assure me 
that it was served out to them much more frequently than I 
have related as coming under my observation. 1 tliink there 
can be no doubt on this point. 

The size of the whiskey allowance was declared, by those 
whose experience had made them competent judges, as 
trifling and insignificant, sometimes not more than a table- 
spoonful ; but the quantity differed greatly in different 
organizations. The o})iuion was very prevalent, and un- 
doubtedly correct, that the liquor was quite liberally sam- 
pled by the various headquarters, or the agents through 
whom it was transmitted to the rank and file. While there 
was considerable whiskey drank by the men '•' unofticiully," 
that is, which was obtained otherwise than on the order of 
the medical department, yet, man for man, the private sol- 
diers were as abstemious as the officers. The ofiicers who 
did not drink more or less were too scarce in the service. 
They had only to send to the commissary to obtain as much 
as they pleased, whenever they pleased, by paying for it; but 
the private soldier could only obtain it of this official on an 
order signed by a commissioned officer, — usually the captain 
of his company. In fact, there was nothing but his sense of 
honor, his self-respect, or his fear of ex})osuie and punish- 
ment, to restrain a captain, a colonel, or a general, of what- 
ever command, from being intoxicated at a moment wlien he 
should have been in the full possession of his senses leading 
his command on to battle ; and I regret to relate that these 
motives, strong as they are to impel to right and restrain 
from wrong-doing, were no barrier to many an officer whose 
appetite in a crisis thus imperilled the cause and disgraced 
himself. Doesn't it seem strange that the enforcement of 



ARMY RATIONS. 141 

the rules of war was so lax as to allow the lives of a hun- 
dred, a thousand, or perhaps fifty or a hundred thousand 
sober men to be jeopardized, as they so often were, by hold- 
ing- them rigidly obedient to the orders of a man whose head 
at a critical moment might be crazed with commissary whis- 
key? Hundreds if not thousands of lives were sacrificed 
by such leadership. I may state h(n"e that drunkenness was 
equally as connnon with the Rebels as with the Federals. 

The devices resorted to by those members of the rank and 
file who hungered and thirsted for comiimsarij to obtain it, 
are numerous and entertaining enough to occupy a cha})ter ; 
but these I must leave for some one of broader experience 
and observation. I could name two or three men in my 
own company whose experience qualified them to fill the 
bill completely. They were always on the scent for some- 
thing to drink. Such men were to be found in all organi- 
zations. 

It has always struck me that the government should have 
increased the size; of the marching ration. If the soldier on 
the march had received one and one-half pounds of hard 
bread and one and one-half pounds of fresh beef daily with 
his sugar, coffee, and salt, it would liave been no more than 
marching men require to keep up the re(|uisite strength and 
resist disease. 

By such an increase the men would liave been compen- 
sated for the parts of rations not issued to them, or the in- 
crease might have been an equivalent for these parts, and the 
temptation to dishonesty or neglect on the part of company 
commanders thus removed. But, more than this, the meij 
would not then have eaten up many days' rations in ad- 
vance. It mattered not that the troops, at a certain date, 
were provided with three, four, or any number of days 
rations; if these rations were exhausted before the limit for 
which they were distributed was even half reached, more 
must be immediately issued. As a consequence, in every 
summer campaign tlce troops had drawn ten or fifteen days 



142 



HAED TACK AND COFFEE. 



marcliing rations ahead of time, proving, season after season, 
the inadequacy of this ration. This deficiency of active 
service had to be made up by shortening the rations issued 
in camp when the men could live on a contracted diet with- 
out detriment to the service. But thei/ knew nothing of this 
shortage at the time, — I mean now the rank and file, — else 
what a universal growl would liave rolled through the camps 
of each army corps while the commissary was " catching up." 
" Where ignorance is bliss," etc. 




CHAPTER VIII. 



OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. 

They braced my aunt against a board, 

To make her straight and tall ; 
They laced her up, they starved her down, 

To make her light and small ; 
They pinched her feet, they singed her hair, 

They screwed it np with pins; — 
Oh, never mortal snifered more 

In penance for her sins. 



Holmes. 



O popular history of tlie war lias yet 
treated in detail of the various in- 
discretions of which soldiers were 
guilty, nor of the punishments which 
followed breaches of discipline. Per- 
haps such a record is wanting be- 
cause there are many men yet alive 
who cannot think with equanimity 
of punishments to which they were 
at some period of their service 
subjected. Indeed, within a few 
months I have seen veterans who, 
if not breathing out threatenings 
and slaughter, like Saul of Tarsus, 
are still unreconciled to some of 
their old commanders, and are brood- 
ing over their old-time grievances, real or imaginary, or both, 
when they ought to be engaged in more entertaining and 
profitable" business. I shall not, because I cannot, name 
all the offences of soldiering to which punishments were 
affixed, as no two commanding officers had just the same 
violations of military discipline to deal with, —but I shall 

143 




BALL AND CHAIN. 



144 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



endeavor in this cliapter to include all those which appeal to 
a common experience. 

The most common offences were drunkenness, absence 
from camp without leave, insubordination, disrespect to 
superior officers, absence from roll-call without leave, turbu- 
lence after taps, sitting while on guard, gambling, and 
leaving the beat without relief. To explain these offences 
a little more in detail — no soldier was supposed to leave 
camp without a pass or })ermit from the commander of the 
regiment or battery to which he Ijelonged. A great many 

did leave for a 
few hours at a 
time, liowever, 
and took their 
chances of being 
missed and reported for it. 
In some companies, when it 
was thought that several were 
absent without a permit, a 
roll-call was ordered simply 
to catcli the culprits. Dis- 
respect to a superior officer 
was shown in many ways. 
Some of the more common 
ways were to '• talk back," in 
strong unmilitary language, 
and to refuse to salute him 
or recognize him on duty, 
which military etiquette re- 
(juires to be done. Tlie other 
offences named explain them- 
selves. 
The methods of punishment were as diverse as the dispo- 
sitions of the officers who sat in judgment on the cases of 
the offenders. In the early history of a regiment there was 
a guard-house or guard-tent wdiere the daily guard were 




CARRYING A LOG. 



OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. I45 

wont to assemble, and which was their rendezvous when off 
post during their twenty-four hours of duty. But when 
the ranks of the regiment had become very much depleted, 
and the men pretty well seasoned in military duty, the guard- 
tent was likely to be dispensed with. In this guard-tent 
offenders were put for different periods of time. Such con- 
finement was a common punishment for drunkenness. Tliis 
may not be thought a very severe penalty : still, the men 
did not enjoy it, as it imposed quite a restriction on their 
freedom to be thus pent up and cut off from the rest of 
tlieir associates. 

Absence from camp or roll-call without leave was pun- ' 
ished in various ways. There was no special penalty for it. 
I think every organization had what was known as a Black 
List, on which the names of all offenders against the ordi- 
nary rules of camp were kept for frequent reference, and 
when thei'e was any particularly disagreeable task about 
camp to be done the black list furnished a quota for the 
work. The galling part of membership in tlie ranks of the 
black list was that all of the work done as one of its victims 
was a gratuity, as the member must stand his regular turn 
in his squad for whatever other fatigue duty was re(|uired. 

Among the tasks that were thought quite interesting and 
profitable pastimes for the black-listed to engage in, were 
policing the camp and digging and fitting up new company 
sinks or filling abandoned ones. A favorite treat meted out 
to the unfortunates in the artillery and cavalry was the 
burying of dead horses or cleaning up around the picket 
rope where the animals were tied. In brief, the men who 
kept off the black list in a company were spared many a 
hard and disagreeable job by the existence of a good long 
list of offenders against camp discipline. 

This placing of men on the black list was not as a rule 
resorted to by officers who cherished petty spites or personal 
malice, but by it they designed rather to enforce a salutary 
discipline. Such officers had no desire to torture the erring, 



146 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



but aimed to combine a reasonable form of punishment with 
utility to the camp and to the better behaved class of sol- 
diers, and in this I think they were successful. But there 
was a class of officers who felt that every violation of camp 
rules should be visited with the infliction of bodily pain in 
some form. As a consequence, the sentences imposed b}^ 

these military judges all 
looked towards that end. 
Some would buck and gag 
their victims ; some would 
stand them on a barrel for 
a half-day or a day at a 
time : a favorite jjunish- 
ment with some was to 
knock out both heads of 
a barrel, then make the 
victim stand on the ends 
of the staves ; some would 
compel them to wear an 
inverted barrel for several 
hours, by having a hole 
cut in the bottom, through 
which the head passed, making a kind of wooden overcoat ; 
some culprits were compelled to stand a long time with their 
arms, extending horizontally at the side, lashed to a heavy 
stick of wood that ran across their backs ; others were 
lashed to a tall wooden horse which stood perhaps eight or 
nine feet high ; some underwent the knapsack drill, that is, 
they walked a beat Avith a guardsman two hours on and two 
or four hours off, wearing a knapsack filled with bricks or 
stones. Here is an incident related by a veteran who served 
in the Gulf Department: One day a captain in General 
Phelps' Brigade put a man on knapsack drill ; in other words, 
he filled his knapsack with bricks, and made him march with 
it up and down the company street. The General had the 
habit of going through the camps of his brigade quite fre- 




BUCKED AND GAGGED, 



OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. 



147 



qiiently, and that day lie happened around just in time to 
see the performance, but returned to liis quarters apparently 
without noticing it. Soon, however, he sent his Orderly to 
the Captain with a request to come to his tent. The Cap- 
tain was soon on Ins way, dressed in his best uniform, 
probably expecting, at least, a commendation for his effi- 
ciency, or perhaps a promotion. On 
reaching the General's tent, he was 
admitted, when, after the usual 
salute, the following dialogue took 
place : — 

General P. — '• Good-morning, 
Caj^tain." 

Captain. — " Good-morning, Gen- 
eral." 

General P. — "I sent for 3'ou, 
Captain, to inquire of you what 
knapsacks were made for."' 

Captain. — " Knajxsacks ! — wh}^ 
I suppose tliey were made for sol- 
diers to carry their spare cloth- 
ing in." 

General P. — " Well, Captain, I 
passed your camp a short time ago 
and saw one of your men carrying 
bricks in his knapsack up and down 
the company street. Now, go back 
to your company, send that man to 

_ •^ I J ' POSTED. 

his quarters, and don't let me know 

of your ordering any such punishment again while you are 

in my brigade." 

One regiment that I know of had a platform erected, be- 
tween twenty-five and thirty feet high, on which the offend- 
er was isolated from the camp, and left to broil in the sun 
or soak in the rain while a guard paced his beat below, to 
keep away any who might like to communicate with him. 




148 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



Some were tied up by the thumbs, with arms extended full 
length, and compelled to stand in that position for hours ; 
some were put into what was known as 
the sweat-box. This was a box eigli- 
teen inches square, and of the full 
height of a man, into which the cul- 
prit was placed to stand until re- 
leased. Some had their full offence 
Avritten out on a board with chalk, 
and, with this board strapped to their 
backs, were marched up and down 
through camp the entire day, without 
rest or refreshment. 

In the artillery, the favorite punish- 
ment was to lash the guilty party to 
the spare wheel — the extra wheel 
carried on the rear portion of everj'' 
In 




A LOADED KNAPSACK. 



caisson in a battery 
the cavalry, men were some- 
times punished by being 
compelled to carry their 
packed saddle a prescribed 
time — no small or insig- 
nificant burden to men un- 
used to a knapsack. Some- 
times the guilty parties 
were required to carry a 
heavy stick of wood on the 
shoulder. I knew one such 
man, who, because of this 
punishment, took a solemn 
oath that he would never 
do another day's duty in 
his company ; and he never 
did. From that day forward he reported at sick-call, but 
the surgeon could find no traces of disease about him, and 




ISOLATED ON A PLATFORM. 



OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. 



149 



SO returned liim for duty. Still the man persistently refused 
to do duty, claiming that he was not able, and continued to 
report at sick-call. By refusing to eat anything, he reduced 
himself to such a condition that he really appeared diseased, 
and at last was discharged, went home, and boasted of Ins 
achievement. 

Sometimes double guard-duty was ordered for a "lan on 
account of an omission or act of his while on guard. Ihis 




ON THE SPARE WHEEL. 

punishment gave him four hours on and two ofl' his post or 
beat instead of the reverse. His offence may have been 
failing or refusing to salute his superior officer. It may 
have been that he was not properly equipped. It may have 
been for being found off his beat, or for leaving it without 
having been properly relieved; or he may liave failed in his 
duty when the " Grand Rounds " appeared. 

When non-commissioned officers sinned, which they did 
sometimes, they were punished by being reduced to the ranks. 

In some organizations gambling was not allowed, in others 



150 



HA ED TACK AND COFFEE. 




it was carried on by both officers and privates. In one com- 
mand, at least, where this vice was interdicted, culprits in 

the ranks were punished 
by having one-half of tlie 
head shaved — a most hu- 
miliating and effective pun- 
ishment. 

Then "back talk," as 
it was commonly called, 
wliich, interpreted, means 
answering a superior officer 
insolently, was a prolific 
cause of punisliments. It 
did not matter in some 
organizations who the offi- 
cer was, from colonel or 
captain to the last corporal, 
to hear was to obey, and 
under such discipline the 
men became the merest puppets. In tlieory, such a regi- 
ment was the j^erfect military machine, where every 
man was in complete subordination to one master mind. 
But the value of such a machine, after all, depended largely 
upon the kind of a man the ruling spirit was, and whether 
he associated his inflexibility of steel with the justice of Aris- 
tides. If he did that, then was it indeed a model organiza- 
tion ; but such bodies were rare, for the conditions were 
wanting to make them abundant. The master mind was too 
often tyrannical and abusive, either by nature, or from hav- 
ing been suddenly clothed with a little brief authority over 
men. And often when nature, if left to lierself, would have 
made him a good commander, an excessive use of "commis- 
sary" interfered to prevent, and the subordinates of such a 
leader, many of them appointed by his influence, would 
naturally partake of his characteristics; so that such regi- 
ments, instead of standing solidly on all occasions, were 



ON A AVOODEN HORSE. 



OFFE^^CES AND PUJ^ISHMENTS. 



151 



weakened as a fighting body by a lack of confidence in and 
personal respect for their leaders, and by a hatred begotten 
of unjust treatment. Hundreds of officers were put in com- 
mission through influence at court, wealth or personal in- 
fluence deciding appointments that 
should have been made solely on the 
basis of merit. At the beginning 
of the war it was inevitable that the 
officers should have been inexperi- 
enced and uninstructed in the de- 
tails of warfare, but later this con- 
dition changed, and the service 
would have been strengthened and 
materiall}" improved by promoting 
men who had done honorable ser- 
vice and shown good conduct in 
action, to commissions in new regi- 
ments. It is true that such was the 
intent and partial practice in some 
States, but the governors, more or 
less from necessity, took the advice 
of some one who was a warm per- 
sonal friend of the applicant, so that 
shoulder-straps, instead of being al- 
ways conferred for gallant conduct 
in the front rank, were sometimes a 

mark of distinguished prowess in the mule-train or the cook- 
house, which seemed to maintain readier and more influential 
communication with the appointing power at the rear than 
was had by the men who stood nearest to the enemy. 

To bow in meek submission to the uneducated authority 
of the civilian, or to the soldier whose record was such as 
not to command the respect of his fellows, was the lot of 
thousands of intelligent and brave soldiers, the superiors in 
all respects, save that of military rank alone, of these self- 
same officers ; and to be connnanded not to answer back. 




IN THE SWEAT-BOX. 



152 



HABB TACK AND COFFEE. 



when they felt that tliey must uttev a protest against injus- 
tice, was a humiliation tliat the average volunteer did not 
fully realize wlieu he put his name to the roll, — a humilia- 
tion which grew bitterer with 
every new indignity. Punish- 
ments or rebukes administered by 
social inferiors were galling: even 
when deserved. 

It seems ludicrous to me when 
I recall the threats I used to hear 
made agains^ oiiticers for some of 
their misdeeds. Many a wearer 
of shoulder-straps was to be shot 
by his own men in the first en- 
gagement. But, somehow or other, 
when the engagement came alono- 
there seemed to be Rebels enough 
to shoot without throwing away 
ammunition on Union men ; and 
about that time too the men, who 
in more peaceful retreats were so 
anxious to shoot their own officers, 
could not always be found, when 
wanted, to shoot more legitimate- 
ON THE CHINES. gauie. lu tlicse days, when pri- 

vate soldiers are so scarce and 
officers so exceedingly abundant, the question might very 
naturally arise how the abundance came al)out if the offi- 
cers were so often between two fires ; but what I have said 
will furnish a solution to the mystery. 

Then, there were liundreds of officers that were to be 
settled with when they reached home, and were on an 
equality with the private soldier so far as military rank was 
concerned. But while there were, as I have previously 
intimated, a few who took their resentments out of the ser- 
vice with them, they were only few in number, and it is 




OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. 



15i 



doubtful whether any of them ever executed their threat- 
ened deeds of violence. Poor underpaid non-commissioned 
officers, who occupied the perplexing and uncomfortable 
position of go-betweens, were frequently invited by privates 
to strip off their chevrons and be handsomely whipped for 
some act annoying to said privates ; but I never heard of 
any n. c. o. sacrificing his chevrons to any such ambition — 
for various reasons, of which the fear of a thrashing was 
not necessarily one. 

There were regiments each of which, when off duty, 
seemed to contain at least two or three hundred colonels 
and captains, so much social free- 
dom obtained between officers and 
rank and file, yet at the proper 
time there was just one com- 
mander of such a regiment to 
whom the men looked ready to 
do his bidding, even to follow him 
into the jaws of death. These 
officers were not always devout 
men ; at an earlier period in their 
lives some of them may have 
learned to be profane ; some drank 
commissary whiskey occasionally, 
it may be ; but in all their deal- 
ings with subordinates, while they 
made rigid exactions of them as 
soldiers^ they never forgot that 
they were me7i, and hence, en- 
deavoring to be just in the settle- 
ment of camp troubles, protect- 
ing their command in the full 
enjoyment of all its rights 
among similar organizations, 
never saving "go I" but "come!" 
they welded their regiment into 




A WOODEN OVERCOAT. 



in the hour of danger, 
a militarv ensrine as 



154 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



solid and reliable as the old Grecian Phalanx. Punishments 
in such regiments were rare, for manliness and self-respect 
were never crushed out by tyrants in miniature. The char- 
acter of the officers had so much to do with determining 

the nature and 
amount of the 
punishments in 
the army that I 
consider what I 
have thrown in 
here as germane to the subject 
of this chapter. 

It should be said, in justice 
to both officers and privates, 
that the first two years of the 
war, when the exactions of the 
service were new, saw three 
times the number of punish- 
ments administered in the two 
subsequent years ; but, aside 
from the getting accustomed to 
the restraints of the service, campaigning was more contin- 
uous in the later years, and this kept both mind and body 
occupied. It is inactivity which makes the growler's para- 
dise. Then, in the last years of the war the rigors of mili- 
tary discipline, the sharing of common dangers and hard- 
ships, and promotions from the ranks, had narrowed the gap 
between officers and privates so that the chords of mutual 
sympathy were stronger than before, and trivial offences 
were slightly rebuked or passed unnoticed. 

At the beginning of the war many generals were very 
fearful lest some of the acts of the common soldier should 
give offence to the Southern people. This encouraged the 
latter to report every chicken lost, every bee-hive borrowed, 
every rail burnt, to headquarters, and subordinates were 
required to institute the most thorough search for evidence 




STRAPPED TO A STICK. 



OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. 



155 



that should lead to the detection and punishment of the 
culprits, besides requiring them to make full restitution of 
the value of the property taken. Our government and its 
leading officers, military and civil, seemed at that time to 
stand hat in hand apologizing to the South for invading its 
sacred territory, and almost appearing to want only a proper 
pretext to retire honorably from the conflict. But by the 
time that the Peninsular Campaign was brought to a close 
this kid-glove handling of the enemy had come to an end, 
and the wandering shote, the hen-roosts, the Virginia fence 
and the straw stack came to be regarded in a sense as per- 
quisites of the Union army. Punishments for appropriating 
them after this time were much rarer, and the difficulty of 
finding the culprits increased, as the officers were becoming 
judiciously near-sighted. 

Drumming out of camp was a punishment administered for 
cowardice. Whenever a man's courage gave out in the face 




DRUMMING OUT OF CAMP. 



of the enemy, at the earliest opportunity after the battle, 
he was stripped of his equipments and uniform, marched 
through tlie camp with a guard on either side and four 
soldiers following? behind him at "charge bayonets," while a 



156 



IIABD TACK ANIJ COFFEE. 



fife find drum corps brought up the rear, di'oning out the 
" Rogue's March." He was sure of being hooted and jeered at 
throughout the Avhole camp. There were no restraints put 
uj^on tlie language of his recent associates, and their vocab- 
ularies were worked up to their full capacity in reviling him. 
After he had been thoroughly shown off to the entire com- 
mand, he was marched outside the 
lines and set free. This wliole per- 
formance may seem at first thought 
a very light punishment for so grave 
an offence, and an easy escape from 
the service for such men. But it 
was considered a most disgraceful 
punishment. No man liked to be 
called a coivard, much less to be 
turned out of the army in that dis- 
reputable way, and the facts re- 
corded on his regimental roll side 
b}^ side with the honorable record 
of his fellows. He was liable to the 
death j^enalty if found in camp af- 
terwards. Many more men deserved 
this punishment than ever received 
it. There were very few soldiers 
put out of the service by this 
method. 

Sometimes an officer was assaulted 

by a private soldier or threatened 

by him. For all such offences 

soldiers were tried by court-martial, 

and sentenced to the guard-house 

or to hard labor at the llip Kaps 

or the Dry Tortugas, with loss of 

pay ; or to wear a ball and chain attached to their ankles 

for a stated period. These oifences were often committed 

under the influence of liquor, but frequently through temper 




TIED UP BY THE THUMBS. 



OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. I57 

or exasperation at continued and unreasonable exactions, as 
the victim believed. 

The penalty for sleeping at one's post, that is, when it was 
a post of danger, was death ; but whether this penalty was 
ever enforced in our army I am unable to state. There is a 
very touching story of a young soldier who was pardoned by 
President Lincoln for this offence, through the pitiful inter- 
cession of the young man's mother. Whether it was a chap- 
ter from real life, 1 am in doubt. I certainly never heard of 
a sentinel being visited with this extreme penalty for this 
offence. 

The penalty attaching to desertion is death by shooting, 
and this was no uncommon sight in the army ; but it did not 
seem to stay the tide of desertion in the least. I have seen 
it stated that there was no time in the history of the Army 
of the Potomac, after its organization by McClellan, when it 
reported less than one-fourth its full membership as absent 
without leave. The general reader will perhaps be inter- 
ested in the description of the first execution of a deserter 
that I ever witnessed. It took place about the middle of 
October, 1863. I was then a member of Sickles' Third 
Corps, and my com^iany was attached for the time being to 
General Birney's First Division, then covering Fairfax Sta- 
tion, on the extreme left of the army. The guilty party was 
a member of a Pennsylvania regiment. He had deserted 
more than once, and was also charged with giving informa- 
tion, to the enemy whereby a wagon-train had been captured. 
The whole division was ordered out to witness the execu- 
tion. The troops were drawn up around three sides of a 
rectangle in two double ranks, the outer facing inward and 
the inner facing outward. Between these ranks, throughout 
their entire extent, the criminal was obliged to march, which 
he did with lowered head. The order of the solemn proces- 
sion was as shown in the accom])an3'ing diagram, the arrows 
indicating its direction. 

First came the provost-marslial, — the slieriff of the army, 



158 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



— mounted; next, the band playing (wliat to me from its 
associations has now come to be the saddest of all tunes) 




P, prisoner ; C, coffin ; G, grave ; F, firing party ; R, reserve firing party ; 
F, twelve guards. 

Pleyel's Hymn, even sadder than the Dead March in " Saul," 
which I heard less frequently ; then followed twelve armed 
men, who were deployed diagonally across the open end of 
the space, after the procession had completed its round, to 
guard against any attempt the prisoner might make to 
escape ; fourth in order came four men bearing the coffin, 
followed by the prisoner, attended by a cha})lain, and a single 
guard on either side ; next, a shooting detachment of twelve 
men. Eleven of these had muskets loaded with ball, while 
the twelfth had a blank cartridge in his muskat; but as the 
muskets had been loaded beforehand by an officer, and mixed 
up afterwards, no one knew who had possession of the mus- 
ket with the blank cartridge, so that each man, if he wanted 
it, had the benefit of a faint hope, at least, that his Avas the 
musket loaded without ball. After these marched an addi- 
tional shooting force of six, to act in case tlie twelve should 
fail in the execution of their duty. 

When the slow and solemn round had been completed, the 



OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. 



159 



prisoner was seated on an end of his coffin, which had been 
placed in the centre of the open end of the rectangle, near 
his grave. The chaplain then made a prayer, and addressed 
a few words to the condemned man, which were not audible 
to any one else, and followed them by another brief prayer. 
The provost-marshal next advanced, bound the prisoner's 
eyes with a handkerchief, and read the general order for the 
execution. He then gave the signal for the shooting party 
to execute their orders. They did so, and a soul passed into 




DEATH OK A DESERTER. 



eternity. Throwing his arms convulsively into the air, he 
fell back upon his coffin but made no farther movement, and 
a surgeon who stood near, upon examination, found life to 
be extinct. The division was then marched past the corpse, 
off the field, and the sad scene was ended. 

I afterwards saw a deserter from the First Division pf the 
Second Corps meet his end in the same way, down before 
Petersburg, in the summer of 1864. These were the only 
exhibitions of this sort tliat I ever witnessed, although there 
were others that took place not far from my camp. The 
artillery was Ijrigaded by itself in 1864 and 1865, and artil- 



160 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

leiyinen were not then compelled to attend executions 
which took place in the infantry. 

Here is a story of another deserter and spy, who was shot 
in or near Indianapolis in 1863. He had enlisted in the 
Seventy-First Indiana Infantry. Not long afterwards he 
deserted and Avent over to the enemy, but soon reappeared 
in the Union lines as a Rebel spy. While in this capacity 
he was captured and taken to the headquarters of General 
Henry B. Carrington, who was then in connnand of this mil- 
itary district. He indignantl}^ protested his innocence of the 
charge, but a thorough search for evidence of his treachery 
w\as begun. His coat was first taken and cut into narrow 
strips and carefully scrutinized, to assure that it contained 
nothing suspicious. One by one, the rest of his garments 
were examined and thrown aside, until at last he stood 
naked before his captors with no evidence of his guilt having 
been discovered. He was then requested to don a suit of 
clothes that was brought in. This he did, and then tri- 
umphantly demanded his release. But the General told him 
to keep cool, as the search was not yet completed; that full 
justice should be done him whether guilty or innocent. 
Taking up the trousers again, the General noticed that one 
of the spring-bottoms was a little stiffer than the other, and 
on further investigation with his scissors, sure enough, care- 
fully sewed in under the buckram, found a pass from tlie 
Rebel General Kirby Smith. 

At this discovery the culprit dropped on his knees, and 
begged for his life. He was tried by court-martial, and sen- 
tenced to be hanged — hanging is the penalty for treason, 
shooting being considered too honorable a death for traitors. 
But General Carrington, wishing the influence of the ex- 
ecution to be exerted as a check against desertion, which 
was very common, decided that he should be shot. It is 
customary to detail the shooting squad from the company to 
which the deserter belongs. But so enraged were the mem- 
bers of this man's company at his offence that they sent a 



OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS. 101 

unanimous request tliat the entire company might act as 
firing party. This request was refused, however, and a de- 
tail of fifteen men made for that purpose. But whereas it is 
usual for the sersreant in charge of such a detail to load the 
muskets himself, putting blank cartridges into one, two, or 
three of the muskets, on this occasion the men were allowed 
to load for themselves, and when the surgeon examined the 
lifeless body he ionwd fifteen bullets in it, showing that each 
one of the fifteen men had felt it to be his duty to shoot his 
former comrade, and that he had conscientiously acted up 
to that duty. 

Shocking and solemn as such scenes were, I do not believe 
that the shooting of a deserter had any great deterring influ- 
ence on the rank and file ; for the opportunities to get away 
safely were most abundant. Indeed, any man who was base 
enough to desert his flasc could almost choose his time for 
doing it. The wife of a man in my own company brought 
him a suit of citizen's clothing to .desert in, which he availed 
himself of later ; but citizen's clothes, even, were not 
always necessary to ensure safety for deserters. When a 
man's honor failed to hold him in the ranks, his exit from 
military life in the South was easy enough. 

I have been asked if all deserters captured were shot. 
No ; far from it. There were times in the war when the 
death penalty for this offence was entirely ignored, and then 
it would be revived again with the hope of diminishing the 
rapid rate at which desertions took place. Desertion was 
the most prevalent in 1864, when the town and city govern- 
ments hired so many foreigners, who enlisted solely to get 
the large bounties paid, and then deserted, many of them 
before getting to the field, or immediately afterwards. They 
had no interest in the cause, and could not be expected to 
have. These men were called bounty-jumpers, and, having 
deserted, went to some other State and enlisted again, to 
secure another bounty. In this manner many of them ob- 
tained hundreds of dollars without beinsf detected ; but 



162 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

many more were appreliended, and suffered for it. I knew 
of three such being shot at one time, each having taken 
three bounties before they were finally captured. The 
greater part of these bounty-jumpers came from Canada. A 
large number of reliable troops were necessary to take these 
men from the recruiting rendezvous to the various regiments 
which they were to join. 

The mass of recaptured deserters were put to hard labor 
on government works. Others were confined in some peni- 
tentiary, to work out their unex[)ired term of service. I be- 
lieve the penitentiary at Albany was used for this purpose, 
as was also the Old Capitol Prison in Washington. Man}- 
more were sent to the Rip Raps, near Fort Monroe. On the 
11th of March, 1865, President Lincoln issued a procla- 
mation offering full pardon to all deserters who should re- 
turn to their respective commands within sixty days, that 
is, before May 10, 1865, with the understanding that they 
should serve out the full time of their respective organiza- 
tions, and make up all time lost as well. A large number 
whose consciences had given them no peace since their 
lapse, availed themselves of this proclamation to make 
amends as far as possible, and leave the service with a good 
name. This act was characteristic of the Emancipator's 
matchless magnanimity and forgiving spirit, but scarcely 
deserved by the parties having most at stake. 

I have already intimated that death by hanging was a 
punishment meted out to certain offences against military 
law. One of these offences was desertion to the enemy, 
that is, going from our army over to the enemy, and enlist- 
in"; in his ranks to fis^ht on that side. In the autumn of 
1864 — near Fort Welch, I think it was — I saw three mil- 
itary criminals hanged at the same 'moment, from the same 
gallows, for this crime against the government. They were 
members of the Sixth Corps. There was less ceremony about 
this execution than that of the deserter, whose end I more 
fully described. The condemned men were all foreigners. 



OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS, 



163 



and rode to the gallows in an ambulance attended by a 
chaplain. The ambulance was well guarded in front, in rear, 
and on the flanks. The gallows also was strongly guarded. 
If I recollect aright, the trooj^^ were not ordered out to 
witness tlie spectacle. Nevertheless, thousands of them 
from adjoining camps lined the route, and, standing around 
the gallows, saw the prisoners meet their fate. No loyal 
heart gave them any sympathy. 

In April, 1864, I saw a man hanged for a different offence, 
on the plains of Stevensburg. He belonged to the second 
division of my own corps. Most of the corps, which 
was then twenty-seven thousand strong, must have wit- 
nessed the scene, from near or afar. In hanging the cul- 
prit the provost-marshal made a dreadful botch of the job, 
for the rope was too long, and when the drop fell the man's 
feet touched the ground. This obliged the provost-marshal 
to seize the rope, and by main strength to hold him clear of 
the ground till death ensued. It is quite probable that 
strangulation instead of a broken neck ended his life. His 
body was so light and emaciated that it is doubtful if, even 
under more favorable circumstances, his fall could have 
broken his neck. 

The report of the Adjutant-General, made in 1870, shows 
that there were one hundred and twenty-one men executed 
during the war — a very insignificant fraction of those who, 
by military law, were liable to the death penalty. 







CHAPTER IX. 

A DAY IN CAMP. 

' I hear the bugle sound the calls 
For Reveille and Drill, 
For Water, Stable, and Tattoo, 
For Taps — and all was still. 
I hear it sound the Sick-Call grim; 
And see the men in line, 
"With faces wry as they drink down 
Their whiskey and quinine." 




PARTIAL description of the daily 
programme of the rank and file 
of the army in the monotony of 
camp life, more especially as it 
was lived during the years 1861, 
'62, and '63, covers the subject- 
matter treated in this chapter. I 
do not expect it to be all new to 
the outside public even, who have 
attended the musters of the State 
militia, and have witnessed some- 
thing of the routine that is followed there. This routine 
was the same in the Union armies in many respects, only 
with the latter there was a reality about the business, which 
nothing but stern war can impart, and which therefore makes 
soldiering comparatively uninteresting in State camp — such, 
at least, is the opinion of old campaigners. 

The private soldiers in every arm of the service had many 
experiences in common in camp life, so that it will not be 
profitable to describe each in detail, but where the routine 
differs I shall be more entertaining and exact by adhering to 
the branch with which I am the most familiar, viz . : the light 



A DAY IN CAMP. 



165 



artillery ; and this I shall do, and, in so doing, shall narrate 
not the routine of my own company alone, but essentially of 
that branch of the service throughout the army as artillery- 
men saw and lived it. 

Beginning the army day, then, the first bugle-call blown 
was one known in artillery tactics as the Asmmhly of Bu- 
glers, to sound which the corporal or sergeant of the guard 
would call up the bugler. 

Assembly of Buglers (artillery). 




^=^ 






-f — ^^ • 



F= 







Assembly of Buglers (uifantrT/). 



It was sounded in summer about five o'clock, and in 
winter at six. It was the signal to the men to get out of 
their blankets and prepare for the morning roll-call, known 
as ReveilU. At this signal, the hum of life could be heard 
within the tents. " Put the bugler in the guard-house ! " — 
u Xurn out ! " — " All up ! " — and other similar expressions, 
mingled with yawns, groans, and exclamations of deep dis- 
gust"^ formed a part of the response to this always unwelcome 
summons. But as only the short space of fifteen minutes 
was to intervene before the next call, the Assemhly, would 
be blown, the men had to bestir themselves. Most of 
them would arise at once, do the little dressing that was 
required, and perform or omit their toilet, according to the 
inclination or habit or time of the individual. 



166 



HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 



A common mode of washing was for one man to pour 
water from a canteen into the hands of his messmate, and 

thus take turns ; but this 
method was practised most 
on the march. In settled 
camp, some men had a short 
log scooped out for a wash- 
basin. Some were not so par- 
ticular about being washed 
every day, and in the morn- 
ing would put the time re- 
quired for the toilet into 
another " turn over " and 
nap. As such men always 
slept wdtli their full uniform 
on, they were equivalent to 
a kind of Minute Men, ready to take the field for roll- 
call, or any other call, at a minute's notice. 




A CANTEEN WASH. 




Assembly (artillery). 






Assembly {infantry] 

-1=2— r 



3i^fe^ffe^^=i^^|£l:ISa 



ffff'^f'^j^-pr^rf'^-'^f^^Slrf^r^pj-^^ 



U 



^q 






As soon as the Assembly sounded, the sight presented 
was quite an interesting one. The men could be seen 
emerging from their tents or huts, their toilet in various 
stages of completion. Here was a man with one boot on, 
and the other in his hand ; here, one with his clothes but- 



A DAY IN CAMP. 



Km 



toned ill skips and blouse in hand, which he was putting on 
as he went to the line : here was one with a blouse on ; 
there, one with his jacket or overcoat (unless uniformity of 
dress on line was required — it was not always at the morn- 
ing roll-calls, and in some com})anies never, only on inspec- 
tions). Here and there was a man just about half awake. 




FALL IN FOR ROLL-CALL. 



having a fist at each eye, and looking as disconsolate and 
forsaken as men usually do when they get from the bed 
before the public at short notice. 

Then, this roll-call Avas always a powerful cathartic on a 
large number, who must go at once to the sinks, and let the 
Rebel army wait, if it wanted to fight, until their return. 
The exodus in that direction at the sounding of the assem- 
bly was reall}^ Cjuite a feature. All enlisted men in a com- 
[)any, except the guard and sick, must be present at this roll- 
call, unless excused for good reasons. But as the shirks 
always took pride in dodging it, their notice of intention 
to be absent from it for any reason was looked at askance 
by the sergeants of detachments. The studied agony that 
these men would work not only into their features but their 



1G8 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



voice and even their gait would have been ludicrous in the 
extreme, if frequent repetitions had not rendered it disgust- 
ing ; and the humorous aspect of these dodgers was not a 
little eidianced by the appearance which they usually had of 
having been dressed much as is a statue about to be dedi- 
cated, which, at the signal, by the pulling of a single cord, 
is instantly strip})ed of all its drapery and displayed in its 
full glor}-. 

Other touclies, which old soldiers not artillerymen would 
readily recognize as familiar, might be added to the scene 
presented in camp, when the bugle or the drum called the 
men into line for the first time in the day. When at last 
the line was formed, it was dressed by the orderly, — now 
called, I believe, first sei'geant, — and while at ''Parade 
Rest " the bugles blew. 

Reveille. 



V-4-* — h I — UJ — •—I — H — ^— •— I — -I — i— ' — • -I — h' 1 — •+! — ^ — *-r— 



r- 






-! — h-r-h-F^- 



:fr,: 



?igi^^=iiEr^s=ii^ii^^ii 



There were words improvised to many of these calls, 
which I wish I could accurately remember. Those adapted 
to Reveille, in some regiments, ran as follows : — 



I can't get 'em up, I can't get 'em up, 

I can't get 'em up, I tell you. 

I can't get 'em up, I can't get 'em up, 

I can't get 'em ixp at all. 

The corporal's worse than the private. 

The sergeant's worse than the corporal, 



A DAY IN CAMP. 169 

The lieutenant's worse than the sergeant, 
But the captahi's worst of all. 

I can't get 'em up, I can't get 'em up, 
I can't get 'em up this morning; 
I can't get 'em up, I can't get 'em up, 
I can't get 'em up to-day. 

These are more appropriate when applied to the infantry, 
where the call was blown before the men came into line. 

When the bugle ceased to sound, the orderly-sergeant of 
a battery said, " Pay attention to Roll-call " ; and the roll was 
called by the six line or dut}^ sergeants, each of whom had 
charge of twenty-five men, more or less. These sergeants 
then made their report of " all present or accounted for," or 
whatever the report was, to the orderly-sergeant, who, in 
turn, reported to the officer of the day in charge. If there 
were no special orders to be issued for fatigue duty, or no 
checks or rebukes or instructions to be given "• for the good 
of the order," tlie line was dismissed. Any men who were 
absent without leave were quite likely to be put on the 
Black List for their temerity. 

Shortly after Reveille, the buglers sounded forth the shrill 
notes of 

Stable Call. 




Here are the words suno- to this call : — 



Go to the stable, as quick as you're able, 

And groom off your horses, and give them some corn; 
For if you don't do it the captain will know it. 

And then you will rue it, as sure as you're born. 



170 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



This call summoned all the drivers in the company to 
assemble at the grain pile with their pair of canvas nose- 
bags, where the stable sergeant, so called (his rank was that 
of a private, though he sometimes put on the airs of a brig- 
adier-general), furnished each with the usual ration of grain, 
either oats or corn. With this forage, and a curry-comb and 




AT THE GRAIN PILE. 



brush, they at once proceeded to the picket rope, where, 
under the inspection of the six sergeants, supervised also 
by the officer of the day and orderly, the horses were 
thoroughly gi'oomed. At a given signal, the grooming 
ceased, and the nose-bags were strapped on. Sometimes 
the feed was given while the grooming was in progress. 
The only amusing phase of this duty that I now recall, 
occurred when some luckless cannoneer, who would insist 
that he did not know the difference between a curry-comb 
and a curry of mutton, was detailed to minister to the 
sanitary needs of some poor, unsavory, glanders-infected, or 
greasy-heeled, or sore-backed, or hoof-rotten brute, that 
could not be entirely neglected until he was condemned 
by governmental authority. Now the cannoneers of a 
battery, who constituted what was known as the Gun 
Detachment, were an aristocracy. It is worthy of notice 



A DAY IN CAMP. 171 

that when artillery companies received their first outfit 
of horses, there were always at least three men who wished 
to be drivers to one who cared to serve as a cannoneer, 
the prevailing idea among the uninitiated being that a 
driver's position was a safer place in battle than that of 
a cannoneer. I will only say, in passing this point, that 
they were much disappointed at its exposures when they 
came to the reality ; but the cannoneers, taking the recog- 
nized post of danger from choice, a post whose duties when 
well executed were the most showy on parade, as well as 
the most effective in action, upon whose coolness and cour- 
age depended the safety not only of their own company 
but often that of regiments, were nursed by these facts 
into the belief that they rightfully outranked the rest of 
the rank and file. The posturings and facial contortions of 
a cannoneer, therefore, who cherished these opinions, when 
called upon to perform such a task as I have specified, can 
readily be imagined ; if they cannot, I will only say that 
they would have excited the risibilities of the most sympa- 
thetic heart. The four-footed patients alluded to were 
usually assigned to the charge of "Spare Men," that is, men 
who were neither drivers nor members of the gun detach- 
ments, who, by use, had come to fill the situation meekly 
and gracefully. There was one service that a cannoneer 
would occasionally condescend to do a driver. When the 
army w\is on the march, a driver would sometimes get 
weary of riding and ask a cannoneer to spell him while he 
stretched his legs ; and just to oblige him, you know, the 
cannoneer would get into the saddle and ride two or three 
miles, but beyond that he kept to his own s})here. 

Following close upon the completion of stable duties 
came Breakfast Call, when the men prepared and ate 
their breakfast, or received their dipper of coffee and other 
rations from the company cook-house. I can add nothing 
in this connection to what I have already related in the 
chapter on Rations. 



172 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 
Breakfast Call (in artillery). 



Allegro. 3 »-r=zzpi=f=P=P=F^=ES 

Breakfast Call (in infantry). 




Allegro. ^ m rwTzzrziW^f:===^W^^^' 



^=p= 



At eight o'clock the bugler blew 

Sick Call (ui artillery). 







-3 — 3- 



^ ■ 



:^=PEgE^--fr^^^ 



:±--i=: 

-^-1 — 






IH 









• — •- 



Here are the words inipvovised to this call : - 



Dr Jones says. Dr. Jones says: 
Come and get your quin, quin, quin, quuune, 
Come and get your quinine, 
Q-u-i-n-i-n-e ! ! ! 



A DAY IN CAMP. 173 

In response to this call, some who were whole and needed 
not a physician, as well as those who were sick reported at 
the surgeon's tent for prescriptions. Much used to be said 
by the soldiers in regard to the competency or incompetency 
of army surgeons. It was well understood in war time that, 
even tiiouo-h an examination of fitness was required of sui- 
o-eons tos'ecure an appointment in the army, - at least in 
some States, -many charlatans, by some means, received 
commissions. Such an examination had as much value as 
those tlie medicine men made of recruits in 64 and Qo, for 
those who have occasion to remember will agree that a suffi- 
cient number of men too old or diseased came to the front 
in those years -no, they did not all get as far as the 
front -to fairly stock all the hospitals in the country. A 
part of this showing must be charged to incompetent 
physicians, and a part to the strait the government was in 
foi- recruits. The appointment of incompetent surgeons, 
on the other hand, is to be condoned in a government sorely 
pressed for medical assistance, and all too indifferent, m us 
strait, to the qualifications of candidates. 

Nothino- in this line of remark is to be construed as 
reflectino'on the great mass of army surgeons, who were 
most assiduous workers, and whose record makes a most 
creditable chapter in the history of the Rebellion. There 
are incompetents in every class. 

Every soldier who tried to do his duty, and only re- 
sponded to sick-call when in the direst need, should have 
received the most skilful treatment to be had ; but a strict 
regard for the facts compels the statement that a large num- 
ber of those who waited upon the doctor deserved no better 
treatment than the most ignorant of these men of medicine 
were likely to administer. Yes, there were a few individuals 
to be found, I believe, in every conq)any in the service, who 
to escape guard or fatigue duty, would feign illness, and, it 
possible, delude the surgeon into believing them proper 
subjects for his tenderest care. Too often they succeeded, 



174 



II All D TACK AND COFFEE. 



and threw upon their own intimate associates the labors of 
camp, which the}^ themselves were able to perform, and 
degraded their bodies by swallowing drugs, for the ailments 
to which they laid claim. I can see to-day, after a lapse of 
more than twenty years, these "beats on the government" 
emerging from their tents at sick-call in the traditional army 
overcoat, with one hand tucked 
into the breast, the collar up, 
cap drawn down, one trousers- 




" FALL IN FOR YOUR QUININE." 



leg hung up on the strap of a government boot, and a 
pace slow and measured, appearing to bear as many of 
the woes and ills of maidvind as Landseer has depicted 
in his " Scapegoat." 

Sometimes the surgeons were shrewd enough to read 
the frauds among the patients, in which case tliey often 
gave them an unpalatable but harmless dose, and reported 
them back for duty, or, perhaps, reported them back for 
duty tvithout prescription, at the same time sending an 
advisory note to the captain of the company to be on the 
lookout for them. It was, of course, a great disappointment 



A BAY IN CAMP. I'T^S 

to these would-be slm-kers to fail in their plans, but some of 
the more persistent would stick to their programme, and by 
refusino- food and taking but little exercise, would m a short 
time nmke invalids of themselves in reality. There were 
undoubtedly manv men in the service who secured admis- 
sion to the hospitals, and finally their discharge, by this 
method; and some of these men, by such a course of action, 
planted the seeds of real diseases, to which they long since 
succumbed, or from which they are now sufferers. 

I must hasten to say that this is not a bur esque on aZZ 
the soldiers who answered to sick-calL God forbid ! The 
genuine cases went with a different air from the shams. 1 
can see some of my old comrades now, God bless them! 
sterling fellows, soldiers to the core, stalwart men when 
they entered the army, but, overtaken by disease, they 
would report to sick-call, day after day, hoiung for a 
favorable change ; yet, in spite of medicine and the nursing 
of their messmates, pining away until at last they disap- 
peared -went to the hospitals, and there died. Oh, it 
inch men could only have been sent to their homes before 
it was too late, where the surroundings were more congenial 
and comfortable, the nursing tender, and more skilful, be- 
cause administered by warmer hearts and the im^re lovmg 
hands of mother, wife, or sister, thousands of these noble 
souls could have been saved to the government and to 
their families. But it was not to be, and so they wasted 
away, manfully battling for life against odds, dying with 
the names of dear ones on their lips, dear ones whose 
presence at the death-bed was in so many cases impossible, 
but dying as honorable deaths as if they had gone down 
" With their back to the field and their feet to the foe." 
This is one of the saddest pictures that memory brings 
me from RebeUion days. 

The proverbial prescription of the average army surgeon 
was quinine, whether for stomach or bowels, headache or 



1T6 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



toothache, for a cough or for lameness, rheumatism or fever 
and ague. Quinine was ahvays and everywhere prescribed 
with a confidence and freedom wliich left all other medicines 
far in the rear. Making all due allowances for exaggera- 
tions, that drug was unquestionably the popular dose with 
the doctors. 

After Sick-Call came Water-Call, or 




Watering Call, 
^— a 



'^^ 



I ^1 L^i ^— i-= 



::J: 






at which the drivers in artillery and the full rank and file of 
the cavalry repaired to the picket-rope, and, taking their 
horses, set out to water them. This was a very simple and 



^.^^--^^ 



■--^rr^^m^^m^::], 




THE PICKET ROPE. 



expeditious matter when the arm}^ was encamped near a 
river, as it frequently was ; but when it was not, the horses 
were ridden from one-half a mile to two miles before a 
stream or pond was found adequate to the purpose. It was 
no small matter to provide the animals of the Army of the 
Potomac with water, as can be judged from the following 
figures: After Antietam McClellan had about thirty-eight 
thousand eight hundred horses and mules. When the army 



A DAY m CAMP. 177 

crossed the Rapidan into the Wilderness, in 1864, there were 
fifty-six thousand four liundred and ninety-nine horses and 
mules in it. Either of these is a large number to provide 
with water. But of course they were not all watered at the 
same pond or stream, since the army stretched across many 
miles of territory. In the summer of 1861, the problem of 
water-o-etting before Petersburg was quite a serious one for 
man and beast. No rain had fallen for several weeks, and 
the animals belonging to that part of the army which was a 
quite a remove from the James and Appomattox Livers liad 
U. be ridden nearly two miles (such was the case in my own 
company, at least; perhaps others went further for wa er 
and then got only a warm, muddy, and stagnant fluid that 
had accumulated in some hollow. The soldiers were sorely 
pressed to get enough to supply their own needs. They 
would scoop out small holes in old water courses, and 
patiently await a dipperfuU of a warm, milky-colored fluid 
to ooze from the clay, drop by drop. Hundreds wandered 
throuo-h the woods and valleys with their empty canteens, 
bareh^ finding water enough to quench thirst. Even places 
usually dank and marshy became dry and baked under the 
continuous drought. But such a state of affairs was not to 
be endured a great while by live, energetic Union soldiers ; 
and as the heavens continued to withhold the much needed 
supr.ly of water, shovels and pickaxes were forthwith diverted 
froin the warlike occupation of intrenching to the more 
peaceful pursuit of well-digging, it soon being ascertained 
that an abundance of excellent water was to be had ten 
or twelve feet below the surface of the ground. Ihese 
wells were most of them dug broadest at the top and 
with shelving sides, to prevent them from caymg, ston- 
ing a well being obviously out of the question. Old- 
fashioned well-curbs and sweeps were then erected over 
them, and man and beast were provided with excellent 

water in camp. 

Fatigue call was the next in regular order. 



178 



Allegro. 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 
Fatigue Call. 

3 



ft^^.p^^fi. 



:gzp=^-^^=a=^=^=^=^H=g^g3g-^T^^=B=^E:;j^ 




Fatigue Call {infantry). 









-^SSi^^^^ 






The artillery were almost never detailed for fatigue duty 
outside of their own company. The onlj- exception now 
occurring- to me was when, an artillery brigade headquar- 
ters was established near by, and an occasional detail was 
made and sent there for temporary service ; but that was all. 
Our camp fatigue duty consisted in policing or cleaning 
camp, building stables, or perhaps I should more accurately 
designate them if I called them shelters, for the horses and 
mules, burying horses, getting wood and water, and wash- 
ing gun-carriages and caissons for inspections. 

This building of horse-shelters was at times no mean or 
trivial enterprise, and sometimes employed a great many 
men a great many days. When the army was on the 
march, with no danger impending, the horses were unhar- 
nessed and tied to the picket-ro})e. This was a rope about 
two hundred feet long and two inches in diameter, which, 
when the battery was drawn up in park, was hitched to the 
outer hind wheel of a caisson on one flank of the battery, 
and then carried through the hind wheels and over the 
ammunition-chests of the intervening caissons and made 
fast to a hind wheel of the caisson on the other flank. 



A DAY IJV CAMF. 179 

In camp, a different plan was adopted. If it was in the 
open, a line of posts was set at intervals, sncli as would 
keep the rope from sagging low, and to them it was secured. 
The earth for ten feet on either side was then thrown up 
beneath like a well graded street, so as to drain off readily. 
Sometimes the picket was established in the edge of woods, 
in which case the rope ran from tree to tree. In summer 
camp a shelter of boughs was constructed over the picket. 
In winter, a wall of pine-boughs was set up around, to fend 
off bleak winds. Now and then, one was roofed with a 
thatch of confiscated straw ; and I remember of seeing one 
nearly covered with long clapboard-like shingles, which 
were rifted out of pine-logs. 

The character and stability of all such structures 
depended largely upon the skill disjtlayed by regimental 
and company commanders in devising means to keep 
men employed, and on the tenure of a company's stay 
in a place. But at this late day I fail to recall a single 
instance where the men called a meeting and gave public 
expression to their gratitude and appreciation in a vote 
of thanks for the kind thoughtfulness displayed by said 
commanders. In fact, not this alone but all varieties of 
fatigue were accompanied in their doing with no end of 
growling. 

It was aggravating after several days of exhausting labor, 
of cutting and carting and digging and paving, — foi* some 
of the "liigli-toned " commanders had the picket paved 
with cobble-stones, — to have boot-and-saddle call blown, 
summoning the company away, never to return to that 
camp, but to go elsewhere and repeat their building opera- 
tions. It was the cheapest kind of balm to a company's 
feelings, wdiere so much of love's — or rather nnivilling — 
labor had been lost, to see another company appear, just as 
the first was leaving, and literally enter into the labors of 
tlie former, taking quiet and full possession of everything 
left behind. Yet such was one of the inevitable concomi- 



180 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

taiits of wiir, and so used did tlie men become to such 
upsettings of their calculations that twenty -four hours suf- 
ficed, as a rule, to wipe out all yearnings for what so 
recently had been. 

I will add a few words in this connection in regard to the 
mortality of horses. Those who have not looked into the 
matter have the idea that actual combat was the chief 
source of the destruction of horseflesh. But, as a matter 
of fact, that source is probably not to be credited with one- 
tentli of the full losses of the army in this respect. It is to 
be remembered that the exigencies of the service required 
much of the brutes in the line of hard pulling, exposure, 
and hunger, which conspired to use them up very rapidly; 
but the various diseases to which horses are subject largely 
swelled the death list. Every few weeks a veterinary sur- 
geon would look over the sick-list of animals, and prescribe 
for such as seemed worth saving or within the reach of 
treatment, while others would be condemned, led off, and 
shot. To bur}' these, and those dying witliout the aid of 
the bullet, I have shown, was a part of the fatigue duty of 
artillerymen and cavalrymen. 

The procuring of wood was often a task involving no 
little labor for all arras of the militar}- service. At Brandy 
Station, Virginia, before the army left there on the 3d of 
May, 1864, some commands were obliged to go four or five 
miles for it. The inexperienced can have little idea of how 
rapidly a forest containing many acres of heavy growth 
would disappear before an army of seventy -five or a hun- 
dred thousand men camped in and about it. The scarcity 
of wood was generally made apparent by this fact, that 
when an army first went into camp trees were cut with the 
scarf two or three feet above the ground, but as the scarcity 
increased these stumps would get chipped down often below 
a level with the ground. 

After fatigue call the next business, as indicated by the 
drum or army bugle, was to respond to 



A BAY IN CAMP. 



181 



Dkill Cali- (artillery). 



Allegro 



^^^' 








;cz: 



-f^W=W- 






Drili- Call (infantri 



hf^ 1 — f^-H^-*--! !-F- ^ F — ^-"-hi I.I ^-*- -i 





-^_l__l__-_| — |-i — #-l — I •t*- |-| — I — ^ — F — -^rl 



I 1 0-\ — I— 



I will anticipate a little by saying that the last drill of 
any kind in which my own company engaged took place 
among the hills of Stevensburg, but a day or two before 
the army started into the Wilderness in '64. From that 
time until the close of the war batteries were kept in con- 
stant motion, or placed in the intrenchments on siege duty, 
thus putting battery drill out of the question ; such at least 
was the fact with light batteries attached to the various 
army corps. The Artillery Reserve, belonging to the Army 
of the Potomac, may have been an exception to this. I 
have no information in regard to it. 

The artillery, like the infantry, had its squad drill, but, as 
the marchings and facings were of only trifling importance, 
there was an insignificant amount of time spent on them. 
The drivers were usually exempted from drill of this kind, 
the cannoneers of the gun detachments doing enough of 
it to enable them, while drilling the standing-gun drill, so 
called, — a drill without horses, — to get from line into 



182 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

their respective stations about the gun and limber, and vice 
versa. But long after this drill became obsolete and almost 
forgotten, the men seemed never to be at a loss to find their 
proper posts whenever there was need of it. 

So far as I know, artillerymen never piqued themselves 
on their skill in marchings by platoons, keeping correct 
alignment meanwhile, whether to the front, the rear, ob- 
liquely, or in wheelings. Indeed, I remember this part of 
their schooling as rather irksome to them, regarding it as 
they did, whether rightfully or wrongfully, as ornamental 
and not essential. It undoubtedly did contribute to a more 
correct military bearing and soldierly carriage of the body, 
and, in a general way, improved military discipline: but 
these advantages did not always appear to the average 
member of the rank and file, and, when they did, were 
not always appreciated at their worth. 

The drill of light-artillerymen in the school of the piece 
occupied a considerable time in the early history of each 
compan3^ Before field movements could be undertaken, 
and carried out either with much variety or success, it 
was indispensable for the cannoneers and drivers to be 
fully acquainted with their respective duties; and not only 
was each man drilled- in the duties of his otvn post, but in 
those of every other man as well. The cannoneers must 
know how to be drivers, and the drivers must have some 
knowledge of the duties of cannoneers. This qualified a 
man to fill not only any other place than his own when a 
vacancy occurred, but another place tvith his own if need 
came. This education included a knowledge of the ordi- 
nary routine of loading and firing, the ability to estimate 
distances with tolerable accuracy, cut fuses, take any part 
in the dismounting and mounting of the piece and carriage, 
the transfer of limber-chests, the mounting of a spare wheel 
or insertion of a spare pole, the slinging of the gun under 
the limber in case a piece-wheel should be disabled ; even 
all the parts of the harness must be known by cannoneer as 



A BAY IN CAMP. 183 

well as driver, so that by the time a man liad graduated 
from this school he was possessed of quite a liberal military 
education. 

Doiug this sort of business over and over again, day after 
day, got to be quite tedious, but it all helped to pass away 
the three years. One part of tliis instruction was quite 
interesting, particulai-ly if the exercise was a match against 
time, or if there was competition between detachments or 
sections ; this was the dismounting and remounting the 
piece and carriage. In this operation each man must know 
Ins precise place, and fit into it as accurately as if he were 
a part of a machine. This was absolutely necessary, in 
order to secure facility and despatch. In ]ust the measure 
that he realized and lived up to this duty, did his gun 
detachment succeed in reducing the time of the exercise. 
One gun's crew in my company worked with such speed, 
strength, unanimity, and precision, that they reduced the 
time for performing this manoeuvre, including loading and 
firing, to forty-nine seconds. Other batteries may have 
done even better. The guns we tlien used were the steel 
Rodmans, weighing something over eight hundred pounds, 
and four of us could toss them about pretty much at will. 
I say four of us, because just four were concerned in the 
liftins" of the sun. We could not have handled the brass 
Napoleons with equal readiness, for they are somewhat 
heavier. 

After cannoneers and drivers came to be tolerably familiar 
with the school of the [)iece, field manoeuvres with the bat- 
tery began. The signal which announced this bit of " en- 
tertainment for man and beast " is known to Army Regula- 
tions as 

Boots and Saddles, 



134 BARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

a call whose tones at a later period sent the blood of artil- 
Jer3nnen and cavalrymen coursing more rapidly through the 
veins when it denoted that danger was nigh, and seeking 
encounter. 

Battery drill was an enterprise requiring ample territory. 
When the vicinity of the camp would not furnish it, the 
battery was driven to some place that would. If cannoneers 
as a class were more devout than the otlier members of a 
light-artillery company, it must have been because they 
were stimulated early in their military career to pray — to 
pray that the limits of the drill-ground slu»uld l)e so con- 
tracted that the battery could not be cantered up and down 
a plain more than half a mile in extent, with cannoneers 
dismounted and strung along in the rear at intervals varying 
with their running capacity or the humor of the command- 
ing officer ; or, if mounted, clutching at the handles or edge 
of the limber-chest, momently expecting to be hurled head- 
long as the carriages plunged into an old sink or tent ditch 
or the gutter of an old company street, or struck against a 
stump or stone with such force as to shake the ammunition 
in the chests out of its packing, making it liable to explode 
from the next concussion — at least so feared the more timid 
of the cannoneers, when their fears of being thrown off 
were quieted so that they could think of anything else. 
On such occasit)ns they appreciated the re-enforced trousers 
peculiar to artillerymen, and wished government had been 
even more liberal in that direction. But this mental state 
of timidity soon wore off, and the men came to feel more at 
home while mounted on these noisiest and hardest-riding of 
vehicles ; or else sulked in the rear, with less indifference 
to consequences. 

Notwithstanding the monotony that came of necessity to 
be inseparable from them, battery drills were often exhila- 
rating occasions. It was in the nature of things for them 
to be so, as when the artillery in action moved at all it must 
needs move promptly. A full six-gun battery going across 



A DAY IN CAMP. 185 

a plain at a trot is an animated spectacle. To see it quietly 
halted, then, at the command, " Fire to the rear. — Caissons 
pass your pieces-trot-march. — In Battery," break into 
moving masses, is a still more animated and apparently 
confused scene, for horses and men seem to fly in all 
directions. But the apparent confusion is only brief, for 
in a moment the guns are seen unlimbei'ed in line, the 
cannoneers at their posts, and the piece-limbers and cais- 
sons aligned at their respective distances in the rear. 

There was an excitement about this turmoil and despatch 
which T think did not obtain in any other branch of the 
service. The rattle and roar was more like that which is 
heard in a cotton-factory or machine-shop than anything 
else with which I can compare it. The drill of a light bat- 
tery possessed much interest to outsiders, when well done. 
It was not unusual, when the drill-ground was in proximity 
to an infantry camp, for the men to look on by hundreds. 
To see six cannons, with their accompanying six caissons, 
sjied by seventy -two horses across the plain at a lively pace, 
the cannoneers either mounted or in hot pursuit, suddenly 
halt at the bugle signal, and in a nioment after appear 
'' In Battery " belching forth mimic thunder in blank car- 
tridge at a rapid rate, and in the next minute "limbered 
up " and away again to anotlier part of the field, was a 
sight full of interest and spirit to the unaccustomed be- 
holder; and if, as sometimes happened, there was a com- 
pany of cavalry out on drill, to engage in a sham fight with 
the battery, a thrilling and exciting scene ensued, which 
later actual combats never superseded in memory ; for while 
the cavalry swept down on the guns at a gallop, with 
sabres flashing in the air, tlie cannoneers with guns loaded 
with blank cartridges, of course, stand rigid as death await- 
ing the onset, until they are within a few rods of the 
battery. Then the lanyards are pulled, and the smoke, 
belched suddenly forth, completely envelops both parties 
to the bloodless fray. 



186 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



As the drilling of a battery was done for tlie most part 
by sounding the commands upon a bugle, it became neces- 
sary for cannoneers and drivers to learn the calls ; and this 
they did after a short experience. Even the horses became 
perfectly familiar with some of these calls, and would pro- 
ceed to execute them without the intervention of a driver. 
Cavalry horses, too, exhibited great sagacity in interpreting 
bugle signals. 

Sometimes the lieutenants who were chiefs of sections 
were sent out with their commands for special drill. A 
section comprised two guns with their caissons. There was 
little enthusiasm in this piecemeal kind of practice, espe- 
cially after familiarity and experience in the drill of the full 
battery ; but it performed a part in making the men self- 
possessed and expert in their special arm of the service. 
Beyond that, it gave men and horses exercise, and appetite 
for government food, wliich, without the exercise, would 
have been wanting, to a degree at least, and occupied time 
that would otherwise have been devoted to the soldier's 
pastime of grumbling. 

At twelve o'clock the Dinner Call was sounded. 



Dinner Call. 






:S:S?^^-OT: 







Dinner Call (Infantry). 




J 



A DAY IN CAMP. 



187 



I can add nothing of interest here beyond what I have 
already presented in my talk on rations. 

There was nothing in the regular line of duty in light ar- 
tillery for afternoons which could be called routine, although 
there was more or less standing-gun drill for cannoneers 
early in the service. In the infantry, battalion drill often 
occupied the time. The next regular call for a battery was 
Wate?- Call, sounded at four o'clock, or perhaps a little later. 
On the return of the horses Stable Call was again blown, 
and the duties of the morning, under this call, repeated. 

At about oAo P. M., Attention was blown, soon to be 
followed by the Assemhhj, when the men fell in again for 
Retreat roll-call. 



Eetukat. 



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188 



IIAIW TACK AND COFFEE. 



The music for this was arranged in three parts, and when 
there were three bugles to bh^w it the effect was quite pleas- 
ing. The name lietreat was probably given this call because 




GOING TO WATER. 



it came Avhen there was a general retiring from the duties of 
the day. This roll-call corresponded with the Dress Parade 
of the infantry. Uniformity of dress was a necessity at this 
time wath the latter, and quite generally too in the artillerj^ ; 
but the commanders of batteries differed widely in taste and 
military discipline. A company of soldiers was what its 
captain made it. Some w^ere particular, others were not, 
but all should have been in this matter of dress for at least 
one roll-call in the day. At this parade all general orders 
were read, with charges, specifications, and findings of courts- 
martial, etc., so that the name of E. D. Townsend, Assistant 
Adjutant-General, became a household word. At this time, 
too, lectures on the shortcomings of the company were in 
order. The lecturer employed by the government to do 
this was usually the officer of the day, though now and 
then the captain would spell him. A lecturer of this kind 
had two great advantages over a lecturer in civil life; first, 
he was always sure of an audience, and, second, he could 



A DAY IN CAMP. 189 

hold their atteiitiou to the very close. None of them left 
while the lecture was in progress. Now ;ui(l then an 
orderly-sergeant would try his hand in the lecture field, 
but unless he was protected by the presence of a pair of 
shoulder-straps he was quite likely to be coughed or groaned 
down, or in some other way discouraged from repeating the 
effort. ' 

The shortcomino-s alluded to were of a varied character. 
I think I mentioned some of them in the chapter on punish- 
ments. Sometimes tlie text was the general delinquency of 
the men in getting into line ; sometimes it was a rebuke for 
being lax in phases of discipline ; the men were not suffi- 
ciently respectful to superior officers, did not pay the requi- 
site attention to saluting, had too much hack talk, were too 
boisterous in camp, too untidij in line. These, and twenty 
other allied topics, all having a bearing on the characteris- 
tics essential in the make-up of a good soldier, were preached 
u])on with greater or less unction and frequency, as circum- 
stances seemed to require, or the standard in a given com- 
pany demanded. 

After the dismission of the line, guard-mounting took 
place ; but this in the artillery was a very simple matter. 
The guard at once formed on the parade line were assigned 
to their reliefs, and dismissed till wanted. Sometimes the 
guard-mounting took place in the morning, as did that of 
the infantry. The neatest and most soldierly appearing 
guardsman was selected as captain's orderl}'. But guard- 
mounting in light artillery was not always thus simple. 
Camp Barry, near Washington, was used as a school of 
instruction for light batteries, for a period of at least three 
years. During the greater part of this time there were ten 
or a dozen batteries there on an average. Under one of its 
commandants, at least, a brigade guard-mounting was held 
at eight o'clock a. m., and here members of my company re- 
sponded to the bugle-call known as the "Assembly of 
Guard," for the first and last time. 



190 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



Assembly of Guakd. 







Tlie infantry bugle-call for the same purj)Ose was more 
familiar, as it ^Yas heard daily for months. It ran as 
follows : — 







^^ 




u-^ 



This call was inimediately followed by other music, either 
a brass band or a fife-and-drum corps, to which the details 
from the various companies marched out on to the color- 
line, where the usual formalities ensued, such in substance 
as may be seen at a muster to-day. The guard necessary in 
a single company of artillery was so small that the call with 
the bugle was rarely if ever sounded, at least in volunteer 
companies. A detail of cannoneers stood guard over the 
guns night and day, and over the cook-house and quarter- 
master's stores at night, and sometimes there was one posted 
in front of company headquarters. A detail of drivers, also, 
went on duty at night at the picket-rope, to assure that the 
horses were kept tied and not stolen by marauding cavalry- 
men. 

In tlie safe rear, where, as the men used to say, the officers 
were wont to sit up late at night burning out government 
candles, while the}^ devised ways and means to keep the 
men exercised as well as exorcised, a guard tent was pitched 
in front of the camp, in which the guard were compelled to 



A BAY IN CAMP. 191 

stay when off post, much to their disgust sometimes ; but 
when the company or regiment was in line along the glorious 
front, that unpopular lodging-house was abandoned, and each 
guardsmen slept in his own quarters, on his own army 
feather-bed, whither the corporal of the guard must come 
for liis victim in the silent hours when that victim was 
wanted to go on post. 

With the infantry, guard-mounting took jolace in the 
morning at eight o'clock. The guard was divided into 
three equal portions, called reliefs, first, second, and third, 
each relief being on post two hours and off four, thus serv- 
ing eight hours out of the twenty-four. With all the irk- 
someness of the detail, the guardsman enjoyed a temporary 
triumph as such, for on that day, at least, he could snap his 
fingers at roll-calls and all calls for fatigue duty — in short, 
was an independent gentleman within certain limits. 

I have stated it to have been the duty of the corporal of 
the guard to seek out the members of the various reliefs in 
their quarters, when the time came for them to go on post. 
There was more or less of lively incident attending these ex- 
plorations — not, however, with the sanction of the corporal, 
to whom the liveliness was anything but amusing. Your 
corporal of the guard was up to the average of ordinary 
officers in intelligence, and, as he was just started on the 
ladder of promotions, fully intended to do his whole duty at 
least ; and so he was wont to prepare himself for his nightly 
rounds by obtaining such a knowledge of the local geography 
of the camp as would enable him to arouse and assemble his 
guard with the least inconvenience to himself and the least 
commotion to the camp. But the best laid plans of corpo- 
rals of the guard would frequently "gang agley," even 
though they used every precaution, and so it was the rule 
rather than the exception for him to get into the wrong 
tent, and, after waking up all the inmates and getting the 
profane to swearing, and all to abusing him for his stupid 
intrusion, to retreat in as good order as possible and try 



192 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



again. The next time perhaps he woukl get into the right 
one, and, after scrutinizing his list of the guard once more, 
call out the name of Sriiith, for example. No answer. 




STOCKADED SIULEY TEXTS. 



There AA'as a kind of deafness generated in the service, 
which was almost epidemic among guardsmen, especially 
night guard ; at least, such seemed to be the case, for the 
man that was wanted to go out and take his post was inva- 
riably the last one in the tent to be awakened by the 
summons of the corporal; and long before that waking 
moment came, the corporal had as aids on In's staff all these 
self-same inmates who had been victims to the assumed 
deafness of the man sought, and whose voices now fur- 
nished no mean chorus to the corporal's refrain. 

Sometimes, when the knight of the double chevron was 
a man of retiring and quiet demeanor, he would save his 
lungs and make an effort to find his man by stepping inside 
the tent, and flashing the light of his army candle from the 
open side of his tin lantern upon the features of each of the 



A DAY IN CAMP. 193 

slumberers until he came to his victim, when he would shake 
him by the shoulder and arouse him. The only drawback to 
this method occurred wlien tlie reflections of the corporal woke 
up the wrong man, who, if he happened to be one of those 
explosive creatures whom I have before mentioned, was not 
always complimentary to the intruder in his use of language. 

Once in a while, in making his midnight rounds, when 
calling the name of one of his guard through the door of 
the stockade, the corporal would be politely directed by 
some one from within, perhaps the very man he wanted, 
to " Next tent below " ; and many a time this officer suc- 
ceeded in getting snch an innocent and unsuspecting house- 
hold completely by the ears before being convinced of the 
joke which had been played on him, when he would return 
to the first tent in no enviable humor ; for meanwhile the 
men to be relieved were chafing and sputtering away at the 
non-appearance of the corporal and the relief. I think there 
was no one minor circumstance which vexed soldiers more 
than tardy relief from their posts, for every minute that 
they waited after the expiration of their allotted time 
seemed to them at least ten ; so that the reception which 
the corporal and relief received when they did arrive was 
likely to be far from fraternal. 

Speaking of the corporal of the guard reminds me of a 

snatch of a song which used to be sung in camp to the tune 

of " When Johnny comes marching home." Here is the 

fragment : — 

My Johnny he now a Corporal is I 

Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
My Johnny he now a Corporal is, 
You bet he knows his regular biz, 
And we'll all feel gay, etc. 

At 8.30 P. M., the bugle again sounded " Attention," fol- 
lowed by the " Assembly," about five minutes afterwards, 
and the tumbling-out of the company from their evening- 
sociables, to form in line for the final roll-call of the day, 
known as Tattoo. 



194 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 
Tattoo. 



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But this was Tattoo in tlie artillery. A somewhat more 
inspiriting call was that of the infantry, which gave the 
bugler quite full scope as a soloist. Here it is : — 



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A DAY IN CAMP. 135 

Ere the last tone had died away, we could hear, when 
camped near enough to the infantry for the purpose, a very 
comical medley of names and responses coming from the 
several company streets of the various regiments within 
ear-shot. It was " Jones ! "— - Brown ! "— " Smith ! "— " Joe 
Smith ! "-"Green ! "-" Gray ! "-" O'Neil ! "--O'Reilly ! " 
— "O'Brien!" and so on through the nationalities, only 
that the names were intermingled. Then, the responses 
were replete with character. I believe it to be among the 
abilities of a man of close observation to write out quite 
at length prominent characteristics of an entire company, 
by noting carefully the manner in which the men answer 
" Here ! "''at roll-call. Every degree of pitch in the gamut 
was represented. Every degree of force had its exponent. 
Some answered in a low voice, only to tease the sergeant, 
and roar out a second answer when called again. There 
were upward slides and downward slides, guttural tones 
and nasal tones. Occasionally, some one would answer for 
a messmate, who was absent ^vithout leave, and take his 
chances of being detected in the act. Darkness gave cover 
to much good-natured knavery. 

Tattoo was blown in artillery with the company at » Pa- 
rade Rest," as at Reveille. The roll-call and reports followed 
just as before, and the company was then dismissed. Well 
do I recall, after the lapse of more than twenty years, the 
melodious tones of this little bit of army music coming to 
our ears so consecutively from various parts of the army as 
to make continuous vibrations for nearly fifteen minutes, 
softened and sweetened by varying distances, as more than 
a thousand bugles gave tongue to the still and clear evening 
air, telling us that in the time specified a hundred thousand 
men had come out of their rude temporary homes — possibly 
the last ones they would ever occupy — to respond to then- 
names, and give token that, though Nature's pall had now 
overshadowed the earth, they were yet loyally at their posts 
awaiting further orders for their country's service. 



19G 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



After this roll-call was over, the men had half an hour in 
which to make their beds, put on their nightcaps, and adjust 
themselves for sleep, as at nine o'clock Taps was sounded, 
which in the artillery ran as follows : — 



Taps. 










-■1- 






11 



In the infantry, the bugle-call for Taps was identical with 
the Tattoo call in artillery. At its conclusion a drummer 
beat a few single, isolated taps, which closed the army day. 
At this signal all lights must be put out, all talking and 
other noises cease, and every man, except the guard, be 
inside his quarters. In a previous chapter I think I stated 
that the Black List caught the men who violated this regu- 
lation. Some officers enforced it with greater rigidity than 
others, but all must have a quiet camp. Yet here, as 
elsewhere, rank interposed to shield culprits from violations 
of military regulations, and, while the private soldier was 
punished for burning his candle or talking to his messmate 
after the bugle-signal, general, field, staff, or line officers 
could and did get together and carouse, and make the night 
turbulent with their revelry into the small hours, with no 
one to molest or call thein to an account for it, although 
making tenfold the disturbance ever caused by the liigh 
private after hours. 

Taps ended the army day for all branches of the service, 
and, unless an alarm broke in upon the stillness of the night, 
the soldiers were left to their slumbers ; or, what was oftener 
the case, to meditations on home ; the length of time in 
months and days they must serve before returning thither ; 
their prospects of surviving the vicissitudes of war ; of the 



A DAY IN CAMP. 



197 



boys who once answered roll-call with them, now camped 
over across the Dark River ; or of plans for business, or 
social relations to be entered upon, if they should survive 
the war. All these, and a hundred other topics which fur- 
nished abundant field for air-castle-building, would chase one 
another through the mind of the soldier-dreamer, till his 
brain would grow weary, his eyes heavy, and balmy sleep 
would softly steal him away from a world of trouble into 
the realm of sweet repose and pleasant dreams. 




CHAPTER X. 

RAW RECRUITS. 

She asked for men, and viphe spoke, my handsome and hearty Sam, 
" I'll die for the dear old Union, if she'll take me as I am " : 
And if a better man than he there's mother that can show, 
From Maine to Minnesota, then let the people know. 

Lucy Larcom. 

ANY facts bearing upon the subject 
of this sketch have been already 
presented in the opening chapter, 
but much more remains to be tokl, 
and the reader will pardon me, I 
trust, for now injecting a little 
bit of personal history to illustrate 
what thousands of j^oung men were 
doing at that time, and had been 
doing for months, as it leads up 
directly to the theme about to be 
considered. 
After I had obtained the reluctant consent of my father 
to enlist, — my mother never gave hers, — the next step nec- 
essar}' was to make selection of the organization with which 
to identify my fortunes. I well remember the to me eventful 
AuQ^ust evenincj when that decision to enlist was arrived at. 
The Union army, then under McClellan,had been driven from 
before Richmond in the disastrous Peninsular campaign, and 
now the Rebel army, under General Lee, was marching on 
Washington. President Lincoln had issued a call for three 

198 




HAW liECEUITS. 199 

hundred thousand three-years' volunteers. One evening, 
shortl}^ after this call was made, I met three of my former 
school-mates and neighbors in the chief village of the town 
I then called home, and, after a brief discussion of the out- 
look, one of the quartette challenged, or "stumped,'^' the 
others to enlist. The challenge was promptly accepted all 
around, and hands were shaken to bind the agreement. I 
will add in passing, that three of the four stood by that 
agreement ; the fourth was induced by increased wages to 
remain with his employer, although he entered the service 
later in the war, and bears a shell scar on his face to 
attest his honorable service. 

After the decision had been reached, not to be revoked on 
my part as 1 fully determined, I returned to my home, and 
either that night or the next morning informed my father of 
the resolution I had taken. Instead of interposing an 
emphatic objection, as he had done the previous year, 
he said, in substance, "Well, you know I do not want 
you to go, but it is very evident that a great many more 
must go, and if you have fully determined upon it I shall 
not object." 

Having already determined upon the arm of the service 
which I should enter, accompanied by three other acquaint- 
ances of the same opinion, two of them the school-fellows 
mentioned, I started for Cambridge, with a view of seeing 
Captain Porter, who was then at home recruiting for the 
First Massachusetts Battery, which he commanded, and 
enlisting with him, as there were at least two men in his 
company who were fellow-townsmen. But we were much 
disappointed when the Captain informed us that his com- 
pany was now recruited to the number required. However. 
we directed our steps back to Boston without delay, and 
there, in the second story of the Old State House, enlisted in 
a new organization then rapidly filling. 

Here is a copy of a certificate, still in my possession, which 
I was to present on enlisting. It tells its own stoiy. 



200 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

VOLUNTEER ENLISTMENT. 

STATE OF ^^^^^^ TOWX OF 

I, born in 

in tlie State of aged years, 

and by occupation a Do hereby acknowledge to have 

voUmteered this day of 18 5 

to serve as a Soldier in the ^rmjr of the 'Sniteir S)tatcs of gimtrita, for 
the ]jeriod of THREE YEARS, unless sooner discharged by proper 
autliority : Do also agree to accept such bounty, pay, rations, and 
clotliing, as are, or may be, established by law for volunteers. And 
I, do solemnly swear, that I will bear 

true faith and allegiance to the United States of America, 
and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their 
enemies or opposers whomsoever; and that I will observe and 
obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the 
orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the liules 
and Articles of War. 

Sworn and subscribed to, at "^ 

this day of 18 , '■- 

Befork ) 

I GER TIFY, OX HONOR, That I have carefully examined the above 
named Voluuteer, agreeably to the General Regulations of the Army, and 
that in my opinion he is free from all bodily defects and mental infirmity, 
which would, in any way, disqualify him from performing the duties of a 
soldier. 

Examining Surgeon. 

I CERTIFY, ON HONOR, That I have minutely inspected the Vol- 
unteer, previously to his enlistment, and that he was 
entirely sober Avhen enlisted; that, to the best of my judgment and 
belief, he is of lawful age ; and that, in accepting him as duly qualified to 
perform the duties of an able-bodied soldier, I have strictly observed the 
Regulations which govern the recruiting service. This soldier has 
eyes, hair, complexion, is feet inches high. 

Regiment of Volunteers. 

Recruiting Officer. 



RAW RECRUITS. 



201 



DECLARATION OF RECRUIT. 

g^ desiring 

to VOLUNTEER as a Soldier in the Army of the United States, for the term of 
THREE YEARS, Do Declare, That I am years and months 

of age; That I have never been discharged from the United States service on account of 
disability or by sentence of a court-martial, or by order before the expiration of a term 
of enlistment; and 1 know of no impediment to my serving honestly and faithfully as a 
soldier for three years. 

Given at 
The day of 

Witness : 



O 



V 



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o; 



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e 

5?H 



O 



ft:; 



'^ 



CONSENT IN CASE OF MINOR. 

I Do CERTIFY, That I am the father of 

that the said is years of age; and I do hereby freely 

give my consent to his volunteering as a Soldier in the Army of the United 
States for the period of three years. 

Given at the day of 186 . 



Witness : 



202 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

How often in later years did the disappointment I experi- 
enced at not obtaining niembersliip in the company I at first 
decided upon recur to me, and how grateful I always felt for 
the fate which thus controlled my enlistment. For the lot 
of a recruit in an old company was, at the best, not an envi- 
able one, and sometimes was made very disagreeable for 
him. He stood in much the same relation to the vetei'ans 
of his company tliat the Freshman in college does to the 
Sophomores, or did when hazing was the rule and not the 
exception. It is to be remembered that he was utterly 
devoid of experience in everything which goes to make up 
the soldier, the details of camping, cooking, drilling, nuxrch- 
ing, fighting, etc., which put him at a disadvantage on all 
occasions. For this reason he easily became the butt of a 
large number of his company — not all, for there were some 
men who were ever ready to extend sympathy and furnish 
information to him, when they saw it was needed, and did 
what they could to raise him to the same general plane 
occupied by the old members. But many of the veterans 
seemed to forget how they themselves obtained their army 
education little by little, and so ofttimes bore down on 
recruits with great severity. 

In the later years of the war, when large bounties were 
being paid by town, city, and State governments, to encour- 
age enlistments, these recruits were often addressed as 
" bounty-jumpers " by the evil disposed among the old 
members. But that term was a misnomer, unless these 
men proved later that they were deserving of it, for a 
bounty-jumper was a man — I hate to call him one — who 
enlisted only to get the bounty, and deserted at the ear- 
liest opportunity. 

Recruits, it should be said, as a class, stood the abuse 
which was heaped upon them with much greater serenity 
of temper than they should have done, and, indeed, so 
anxious were they to win favor with the veterans, and 
to earn the right to be called and pass for old soldiers, 



BAW RECRUITS. 



203 



tliat they generally bore indignities without turning upon 
their assailants. The term "recruit" in the mouth of a 
veteran was a very reproachful one, Init after one good 
brush with the enemy it was dropped, if the new men 
behaved well under fire. In fact, those who abused the 
recruits most were themselves, as a rule, the most unreliable 
in action and the greatest shirks when on camp duty. 




A WOOD DETAIL. 



Wlien a detail made up of recruits and veterans was sent 
with the wagons for wood, the recruits would be patted 
on the back by their wily associates, and cajoled into doing 
most of the chopping, and then challenged to lift the 
heaviest end of the logs into the wagons, which they 
seldom refused to do. In the artillery, it usually fell to 
their lot to care for the spare and used-up horses, not 
from any intention of imposing upon them, but because 
cannoneers and drivers had their regular tasks to perform, 
and all recruits entering the artillery l)egan as spare men, 
and worked uj) from the position of private to that of the 
highest private — a cannoneer. 



204 BAUD TACK AND COFFEE. 

The}^ always came to camp " flush "' witli money, and 
received every encouragement from the bummers of the 
company to spend it freely ; if they did not do this, they 
were in a degree ostracised, and their lot made much 
harder. When their boxes of goodies arrived from home, 
the lion's share went to the old hands. If tlie recruit did 
not give it to them, the meanest of them would steal it 
when he was away on detail. 

Then, all sorts of games were played on recruits by men 
who liked nothing so well as a practical joke. I recall the 
case of a j^oung man in my own company who had just 
arrived, and, having been to the quartermaster for his outfit 
of clothing and equipments, was asked by one of the prac- 
tical jokers why he did not get his umbrella. 

"Do they furnish an umbrella?" he asked. 

" Why, certainly," said his persecutor, unblushingly. " It's 
just like that fraud of a quartermaster to jew a recruit out 
of a part of his outfit, to sell for his own benefit. Go back 
and demmid your umbrella of him, and a good one too ! " 

And the poor beguiled recruit returned to the quarter- 
master in high dudgeon at the imagined attempt to swindle 
him, only to find, after a little breeze, that he had been 
victimized by one of the practical jokers of the camp. 

There were at least two kinds of recruits to be found in 
every squad that arrived in camp. One of these classes 
was made up of modest, straightforward men, who accepted 
their new situation with its deprivations gracefully, and 
brought no sugar-plums to camp with which to ease their 
entrance into stern life on government fare and the hard- 
ships of government service. They wore the government 
clothing as it was furnished them, from the unshapely, un- 
comely forage cap to the shoddy, inelastic sock. It mat- 
tered naught to them that the limited stock of the quarter- 
master furnished nothing that fitted tliem. They accepted 
what he tendered cheerfully, believing it to be all riglit, and 
seemed as happy and as much at ease in a wilderness of 



RAW RECRUITS. 



205 



overcoat aiul breeches as otliers did who had been artisti- 
cally renovated by the company tailor. But they were 
none the less ludicrous and unsoldierly sights to look upon 




KIXKUITS IN UNIFORM. 

in such rigs, and after a while would see themselves as 
others saw them, and "spruce up" somewhat. 

These men drew their army rations to the full, not slight- 
ing the " salt horse," which I have intimated was rarely 
taken by old soldiers. They found no fault when detailed 
for fatigue duty, were always ready to learn, and in every 
way seemed anxious only to do the proper thing to be done, 
hoping by such a course to win a speedy and easy ascent to 
the plane of importance occupied by the veterans ; and this 
course undoubtedly did much to give them caste in the eyes 
of the latter. 

Unlike these men in many particulars was the other class 
of recruits. This latter class was not modest or retiring in 
demeanor. Its members came to camp in a uniform calcu- 
lated to provoke impertinent remarks from the old vets. 
Their caps were from the store of a professional hatter, and 
the numbers and emblem on the crown were of silver and 
gilt iustead of homely brass. Their clothing was generally 



206 HAEl) TACK AND COFFEK. 

custom-niade. The pantaloons in particular were not only 
made to fit well, but were of the finest material obtainable, 
much unlike the government shoddy which covered the old 
veteran, and through whose meshes peas of ordinary calibre 
Avould almost rattle. 

Then, their boots ! such masterpieces of elegance and 
extravagance I Of the cavalry pattern, reaching above the 
knee, almost doing away with the necessity for pantaloons, 
sometimes of plain grained leather, sometimes of enamelled, 
elaborately stitched and stamped, but always seeming to 
mark their occupant as a man of note and distinction 
among his comrades. They seemed a sort of fortification 
about their owner, protecting him from too close contact 
with his vulgar surroundings. Alas ! it never required 
more than one day's hard march in these dashing appen- 
dages to humble their possessor so much that he would 
evacuate in as good order as possible when camp was 
reached, if not compelled to. before. 

Their underwear was such as the common herd did not 
use in service. Their shirts were " boiled," that is, white 
ones, or, if woollen, were of some " loud " checkered pat- 
tern, only less consjDicuous than the flag which they had 
sworn to defend. In brief, their general make-up would 
have stamped them as military "-dudes," had such a class 
of creatures been tlien extant. Of course, it was their 
privilege to wear whatever did not conflict with Army 
Regulations, but I am giving the impressions they made 
on the minds of the old soldiers. 

As for government rations, they scoffed at them so long- 
as there was a dollar of bounty left, and a sutler within 
reach of camp to spend it with. But when the treasury 
was exhausted they were disconsolate indeed, and wished 
that the wicked war was over, with all their hearts. On 
fatigue duty they were useless at- first, and the old soldiers 
niade their lot an unhappy one ; but by dint of bulldozing 
and an abundance of hard service, most of them got their 



RAW RECRUITS. 



207 



fine sentimental notions pretty well knocked out before 
they had been many weeks in camp. The sergeants into 
whose hands they were put for instruction did not spare 
them, keeping them hard at work until the recall from drill. 

It was fun in the artillery to see one of these dainty nien, 
on his first arrival, put in charge of a pair of spare horses, 
— spare enough, too, usually. It was expected of him that 
he would groom, feed, and 
water them. As it often 
happened that such a man 
had had no experience in 
the care of horses, he would 
naturally approach the sub- 
ject with a good deal of 
awe. When the Watering 
Call blew, therefore, and 
the bridles and horses were 
pointed out to him by the 
sergeant, the fun began. 
Taking the bridle, he would 

look first at it, then at the horse, as if in doubt which end 
of him to put it on. In going to water, the drivers always 
bridled the horse which they rode, and led the other by the 
halter. But our unfledged soldier seemed innocent of all 
proper information. For the first day or two he would lead 
his charges ; then, as his courage grew with acquaintance, he 
would finally mount the near one, and, with his legs crooked 
up like a V, cling for dear life until he got his lesson learned 
in this direction. But all the time that he was getting 
initiated he was a ridiculous object to observers. 

The drilling of raw recruits of both the classes mentioned 
was no small part of the trials that fell to the lot of billeted 
officers, for they got hold of some of the crookedest sticks 
to make straight military men of that the country — or, 
rather, comitries — produced. Not the least among the 
obstacles in the way of making good soldiers of them was 




A SPARE MAN AND SPAKE HORSES- 



208 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



the fact that the recruits of 1864-5, in particular, included 
many who could neither speak nor understand a word of 
English. In referring to the disastrous battle of Reams 
Station, not long since, the late General Hancock told me 
that the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment had received an 
accession of about two hundred German i-ecruits only two 
or three days before the battle, not one of whom could 
understand the orders of their commandinsf officers. It can 




DRILLING THE AWIvWAKD SQUAD. 



be easily imagined how much time and patience would be 
required to mould such subjects as those into intelligent, 
reliable soldiery. 

But outside of this class there were scores of men that 
spoke English who would " hay-foot " every time when they 
should "• straw-foot." They were incorrigibles in almost 
every military respect. Whenever they were out with a 
squad — usually the "awkward squad" — for drill, they 
made business lively enough for the sergeant in charge. 
When they stood in the rear rank their loftiest ambition 
seemed to be to walk up the backs of tlieir file-leaders, and 
then they would insist that it was the file-leaders who were 
out of step. Members of the much abused front rank often 



RAW RECRUirS. 209 

liad occasion to wish that the reguhation thirteen inches 
from breast to back might be extended to as many feet; 
but when the march was backward in line, these front 
rank men woukl get square with their persecutors in 
the rear. 

To see such men attempt to change step while marching 
was no mean show. I can tliiidc of nothing more apt to 
compare it with than the game of Hop Scotch, in which 
the player hops first on one foot, then on both ; or to the 
blue jay, which, in uttering one of its notes, jamps up and 
down on the limb ; and if such a squad under full headway 
were surprised with a sudden command to halt, they went 
all to pieces. It was no eas}' task to align them, for each 
man had a line of his own, -and they would crane their 
heads out to see the buttons on the breast of the second 
man, to such an extent that the sergeant miglit have ex- 
claimed, witli the Irish sergeant under like circumstances, 
'-' O be-gorra, what a bint row ! Come out liere, lads, and 
take a look at yoursels ! " 

The awkward squad excelled equally in the infantry 
manual-of-arms. Indeed, they displayed more real indi- 
viduality here, I think, than in the marchings, probably 
because it was the more noticeable. At a "shoulder" their 
nuiskets pointed at all angles, from forty-five degrees to a 
vertical. In the attempt to change to a " carry," a part of 
them would drop their muskets. At an "order," no two of 
the butts reached the ground together, and if a man could 
not always drop his musket on his own toe he was a pretty 
correct shot with it on the toe of his neighbor. But, with 
all their awkwardness and slowness at becoming acquainted 
with a soldier's duties, the recruits of the earlier years in 
time of need behaved manfully. They made a poor exhibi- 
tion on dress parade, but could generally be counted on 
when more serious wcn-k was in hand. Sometimes, when 
they made an unusually poor display on drill or parade, 
they were punished — unjustly it may have been, for what 



210 HAlil) TACK AND COFFEE. 

they could not help — by being subjected to the knapsack 
drill, of which I have already spoken. 

It was a prudential circumstance that the war came to an 
end \vheu it did, for the qualit}^ of the material that was 
sent to the army in 1864 and 1865 was for the most part of 
no credit or value to any arm of the service. The jDeriod of 
enlistments from promptings of patriotism had gone b}-, and 
the man who entered the army solely from mercenary motives 
was of little or no assistance to that army when it was in 
need of valiant men, so that the cliief burden and responsi- 
bility of the closing wrestle for the mastery necessarily fell 
largely on the shoulders of the men who bared their breasts 
for the first time in 1861, "62, and '63. 

I have thus far spoken of a recruit in the usual sense of a 
man enlisted to fill a vacancy in an organization already in 
the field. But this seems the proper connection in wdiich to 
say something of the experiences of men who enlisted with 
original regiments, and went out with the same in '61 and 
'62. In many respects, their education was obtained under 
as great adversity as fell to the lot of recruits. In some 
respects, I think their lot was harder. They knew abso- 
lutely nothing of war. They were stirred by patriotic im- 
pulse to enlist and crush out treason, and hurl back at once 
in the teeth of the enemy the charge of co\vardice and 
accept their challenge to the arbitrament of w'ar. These 
patriots planned just two moves for the execution of this 
desire: first, to enlist — to join some company or regiment; 
second, to have tliat regiment transferred at once to the 
immediate front of the Rebels, where they could fight it 
out and settle the troubles without delay. Their intense 
fervor to do something/ right away to humble the haughty 
enemy, made them utterly unmindful that they must first 
go to school and learn the art of war from its very begin- 
nings, and right at that point their sorrows began. 

I thiids; the greatest cross they bore consisted in being- 
compelled to settle down in home camp, as some regiments 



HAW uECRUirs. 211 

did for months, waiting to be sent off. Here tliey were in 
sight of home in many cases, yet outside of its comforts 
to a large extent ; soldiers, yet out of danger ; bidding their 
friends a tender adieu to-day, because they are to leave them 
— perhaps forever — to-morrow. But the morrow comes, 
and finds them still in camp. Yes, there were soldiers who 
bade their friends a long good-by in the morning, and 
started for camp expecting that very noon or afternoon to 
leave for the tented field, but who at night returned again 
to spend a few hours more at the homestead, as the de- 
parture of the regiment had been unexpectedly deferred. 

The soldiers underwent a great deal of wear and tear 
from false alarms of this kind, owing to various reasons. 
Sometimes the regiment failed to depart because it was 
not full ; sometimes it was awaiting its field officers ; some- 
times complete equipments were not to be had ; sometimes 
it was delaj-ed to join an expedition not 3-et ready ; and thus, 
in one way or other, the men and their friends were kept 
long on the tiptoe of exi)ectation. Whenever a rumor be- 
came prevalent that the regiment was surely going to leave 
on a certain da}^ near at hand, straightway there was an 
exodus from camp for home, some obtaining a furlough, but 
more going without one, to take anotlier touching leave all 
around, for the dozenth time perhaps. Many of those wlio 
lived too far away to be sure of returning in time, remained 
in camp, and telegraphed friends to meet them at some large 
centre, as they passed through on the specified day, which 
of course the friends faithfully tried to do, and succeeded if 
the regiment set forth as rumored. 

I said that many soldiers went home without furloughs. 
There was a camp guard hemming in every rendezvous for 
troops, with which I was familiar; but no sentinel could see 
a man cross his beat if he did not look at him, and this few 
of them did. Indeed, many of the sentinels themselves, as 
soon as they were })Osted and the relieving squad were out 
of sight, stuck their inverted nuiskets into the ground and 



212 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

decamped, either for their two hours or for the day, and took 
their chances of being brought to answer for it. The fact 
is, the men of '61 and '62 ivanted to go to ivar, and, whether 
they left the camp witli or without leave, they were sure to 
return to it. This fact was quite generally understood by 
their superiors. 

This home camp life seems interesting to look back upon. 
Hundreds of men did not spend one day in six in camp. 
They came often enough to have it known that they had 
not deserted, and then flitted again, but other hundreds 
conscientiously remained. The company streets on every 
pleasant day were radiant with the costumes of "fair 
women, and brave men " — to he. On such a day a young 
man sauntering along the parade, or winding in and out 
of the various company streets, the willing prisoner of one 
or more interesting j^oung women — his sisters, perhaps, or 
somebody else's — walked, the envy of the men who had no 
such friends to enliven their camp life, or whose friends were 
too far away to visit them. If these latter men secured an 
introduction to such a party, it tempered their loneliness 
somewhat. And if such a party entered a tent, and joined 
in the social round, it made a merry gathering while they 
tarried. But there were other promenaders whose passing 
aroused no emotions of envy. The husband and father 
attended by the loving wife and mother, whose brow had 
already begun to wear that sober aspect arising from a fore- 
casting of the future, seeing, possibly, in the contingencies 
of war, herself a widow, her children fatherless — dependent 
on her own unaided hands for all of this world's comforts, 
which must be provided for the helplessness of childhood 
and youth. The husband, too, leading his boy or girl by 
the hand as he walks, is not unmindful of the risks he has 
assumed or the comforts he must sacrifice. But his hand is 
on the plough, and he will not turn back. 

Another interesting party often to be seen in the company 
street comprised a father, motlier, and son, perhaps an only 



If AW RECliUITS. 213 

boy, who had volunteered for the wav. Their reluctance at 
the step which he had taken was manifested by turns n 
th lri:oks, words, and acts. But while he -™--d '" ^e 
State they must be with him as much as poss.ble. See that 
carpet-bag which the mother opens, as they take a sea on 
he t raw in the son's tent ! Notice the sohotnde wh.ch 
s e betrays as she takes out one comfort or convemence 
ateranotLr-the socks for cold weather, the woo lens to 
tv d off fever and ague, the medicine to antidote foul water, 
Zl ttle roll of bandages which - may he never have occa- 
s on for; the dozen other con,forts that he ought to be pm- 
7L with, including some goodies which he had better take 
Tom if the regiment should chance to go in a day or two. 
td'so she lolds him up -God bless her !- nttery un- 
mindful that the government has ■'-^^3' Pr-cle hun 
with more than he can carry very far with h,s unaided 

strength. npdlers of " Yankee notions," 

Then, the camps were full ot peuieis oi 

which soldiers were supposed to stand in need of. I shall 

refer to some of these in another connection. 

The lesson ot submission to higher military authority was 

a hard one for free, honest American citizens to l«u.i, and 

while learning it, they chafed tremendously. It was d.th 

u £ then? to realize the difference between men «</. 

oulder-straps and «.«7.»«f them ; in fact, they .ouUl »o 

realize it- for a long time. When the straps crowned the 
Wde of socialinferiors, submission to such authority 
vas at times degrading indeed. I have already tond^d 
upon this subject. But the most judicious code of miWa.y 
dLipline, even if administered by an accomplished officer 
o ell^imable character, would have met with -goro- opp 
sitioii for a time, from these impetuous and hitl_ieito un 
Implied American citizens. Fortunately fov t em, pe. 
haps, but unfortunately for the service, the line officeis we e 
men of their own selection, their neighbors and ^^^^ ^^ 
bad met tliein as equals on all occasions. But now, if such 



214 UAIU) TACK AND COFFEE. 

an officer attempted to enforce the authority conferred b}^ 
his rank, in the interest of better drill or discipline, he was 
at once charged by his late equals with "showing off his 
authority,' "putting on airs," "feeling above his fellows" ; 
and letters written home advertised him as a "miniature 
tyrant," etc., which made his position a very uncomfortable 
one to hokl for a time. But this condition of affairs wore 
away soon after troops left the State, when the necessity for 
rigid discipline became apparent to every man. And when 
the private soldier saw that his captain was held responsible 
by the colonel for uncleanly quarters or arms, or nnsoldierly 
and ill disciplined men, the colonel in turn being lield to 
accountability by his next superior, the growls grew less 
frequent or were aimed at the government rather than the 
captain, and the growlers began to settle down and accept 
the inevitable, taking lessons in something new every day. 
It will be readily seen, I think, that the men composing 
the earliest regiments and. batteries had also their trials to 
endure, and they were many; for not only they but their 
superiors were learning by rough experience the art of war. 
They were, in a sense, " achieving greatness," while the 
recruits had "greatness thrust upon them," often at short 
notice. Furthermore, recruits from the latter part of 1862 
forward went out with a knowledge of much which they 
must undergo in the line of hardship and privation, which 
the first rallies had to learn by actual experience. And 
while it may be said that it took more courage for men to 
go with the stern facts of actual war confronting them than 
when its realities were unknown to them, yet it is also true 
that many of these later enlistments were made under the 
advantage of pecuniary and other inducements, without 
which many would not have been made. For patriotism 
unstimulated by hope of reward saw high- water mark in 
1861, and rapidly receded in succeeding years, so that 
whereas men eidisted in 1861 and early in '62 because they 
wanted to go, and without hope of reward, later in '62 towns 



RAW RECRUITS, 



215 



and individuals besran to oifer bounties to stimulate laij^o-incr 
enlistments, varying in amount from $10 to $300 ; and in- 
creased in "63 and '64 until, by the addition of State boun- 
ties, a recruit, enlisting for a year, received in the fall of '64 
from $700 to $1000 in some instances. It was this large 
bounty which led old veterans 
to haze recruits in many ways. 
Of course, there was no justi- 
fication for their doing it, only 
as the recruits in some instances 
provoked it. 

There was a song composed 
during the war, entitled the 
" Raw Recruit," sung to the 
tune of " Abraliam's Daughter," 
which I am wholly unable to re- 
call, but a snatch of the first 
verse, or its parody, ran about 
as follows : — 

I'm a raw recruit, with a bran'-newsnit, 

Nine hundred dollars bounty. 
And I've come down from Darbytown 

To tight for Oxford County. 



The name of the town and 
county were varied to suit the ?- \\ 
circumstances. ;, i 

. In 1863 a draft was ordered 
to fill the ranks of the army, ^l ^j^y^^- 
as volunteers did not come for- 
ward rapidly enough to meet 

the exigencies of the service. Men of means, if drafted, 
hired a substitute, as allowed by law, to go in their stead, 
when patriotism failed to set them in motion. Many of 
these substitutes did good service, while others became de- 
serters immediately after enlisting. Conscription was never 




DRAFTED. 



216 



IIAIW TACK AND COFFEE. 



more unpopular than wlien enforced upon American citizens 
at this time. 

Here is a suggestive extract from a rhyme of that period, 
entitled 

THE SUBSTITUTE. 

A friend stepped up to me one day; 
These are the words that lie did say: 
" A thousand dollars to you I'll owe, 
If in my place to war you'll go. " 
" A thousand dollars ? Done! " says I ; 
*•' 'Twill help to keep my family." 
I soon was clothed in a soldier's suit, 
And off to war as a substitute. 

To a conscript camp first I was sent 

And to the barracks my steps I bent. 

I saw many there who wore blue suits. 

And learned they were all substitutes. 

Then orders came for us to go, 

Way down where blood like rivers flow. 

When the soldiers saw me, they yelled, " Recruit! 

Why did you come as a substitute ? " 




CHAPTER XL 



SPECIAL RATIONS. — BOXES FROM HOME. — SUTLERS. 

Can we all forget the bills on Sutler's ledger haply yet, 
Which we feared he would remember, and we hoped he would forget? 
May we not recall the morning when the foe were threatening harm, 
And the trouble chiefly bruited was, " The coffee isn't warm " ? 

Prof. S. B. Sumner. 

F there wus a red-letter day to be 
found anywhere in the army life of 
a soldier, it occurred when he was 
the recipient of a box sent to him by 
tiie dear ones and friends he left to 
enter the service. Whenever it be- 
came clear, or even tolerably clear, 
that the army was likely to make 
pause in one place for at least two 
or three weeks, straigditway the aver- 
ao-e soldier mailed a letter home to 
mother, father, wife, sister, or brother, 
setting forth in careful detail what he sliould like to have 
sent in a box at the earliest possible moment, and stating 
with great precision the address that must be put on the 
cover, in order to have it reach its destination safely. Here 
is a specimen address : — 

Sergeiuit John J, Smith, 

ComjxDuj A., 19th Mass. Regiment, 

second bkigade, second division, second corps, 

akmv of the potomac, 

Stevensbukg, Va. 

Care Capt. James Brouui. 

As a matter of fact much of this address was unnecessary, 
and the box would have arrived just as soon and safely if 

217 




2X8 UAIiD TACK AND COFFEE. 

the address had only included the name, company, and regi- 
ment, with Washington, D. (7., added, for everything was 
forwarded from that city to army headquarters, and thence 
distributed through the army. But the average soldier 
wanted to make a sure thing of it, and so told the whole 
story. 

The boxes sent were usually of good size, often either a 
shoe-case or a common soap-box, and were rarely if ever less 
than a peck in capacity. As to the contents, I find on the 
back of an old envelope a partial list of such articles ordered 
at some period in the service. I give them as they stand, 
to wit : " Round-headed nails " (for the heels of boots), 
"hatchet" (to cut kindlings, tent-poles, etc.), "pudding, 
turkey, pickles, onions, pepper, paper, envelopes, stockings, 
potatoes, chocolate, condensed milk, sugar, broma, butter, 
sauce, preservative '' (for the boots). The quantity of the 
articles to be sent was left to the discretion of thoughtful 
and affectionate parents. 

In addition to the above, such a list was likely to contain 
an order for woollen shirts, towels, a pair of boots made to 
order, some needles, thread, buttons, and yarn, in the line of 
dry goods, and a boiled ham, tea, cheese, cake, preserve, etc., 
for edibles. As would naturally be expected, articles for the 
repair and solace of the inner man received most considera- 
tion in making out such a list. 

How often the wise calculations of the soldier were rudely 
dashed to earth by the army being ordered to move before 
the time when the box should arrive ! And how his mouth 
watered as he read over the invoice, which had already 
reached him by mail, describing with great minuteness of 
detail all the delicacies he had ordered, and many more that 
kind and loving hearts and thoughtful minds had put in. 
For the neighborhood generally was interested when it 
became known that a box was making up to send to a 
soldier, and each one must contribute some token of kindly 
remembrance, for the enjojanent of the far-away boy in 



SPECIAL RATIONS. 219 

blue. But the thought that some of these good things 
might spoil before the array would again come to a stand- 
still came upon the veteran now and then with crushing 
force. Still, he must needs endure, and take the situation 
as coolly as possible. 

It was a little annoying to have every box opened and 
inspected at brigade or regimental headquarters, to assure 
that no intoxicating liquors were smuggled into camp in 
that yvay, especially if one was not addicted to their use. 
There was many a growl uttered by men who had lost their 
little pint or quart bottle of some choice stimulating bever- 
age, which had been confiscated from a box as "contraband 
of war," although the sender had marked it with an inno- 
cent name, in the hope of passing it through unsuspected 
and uninspected. Yet the inspectors were often baffled. A 
favorite ruse Avas to have the bottle introduced into a well 
roasted turkey, a place that no one would for a moment 
suspect of containing such unique stuffing. In such a case 
the bottle was introduced into the bird empty, and filled 
after the cooking was completed, the utmost care being 
taken to cover up all marks of its presence. Some would 
conceal it in a tin can of small cakes ; others inserted it in 
a loaf of cake, through a hole cut in the bottom. One 
member of my company had some whiskey sent for his en- 
joyment, sealed up in a tin can ; but when the box was 
nailed up a nail was driven into the can, so that the owner 
found only an empty can and a generally diffused odor of 
"departed spirits" pervading the entire contents of food 
^nd raiment which the box contained. 

It was really vexing to have one's knick-knacks and dain- 
ties overliauled by strangers under ani/ circumstances, and 
.all the more so when the box contained no proscribed com- 
modity. Besides, the boxes were so nicely packed that it 
was next to impossible for the inspector to return all the 
contents, having once removed them ; and he often made 
more or less of a jumble in attem[)ting to do so. I think I 



220 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



must have had as many boxes sent as tlie average aniong 
the soldiers, and simple justice to those who had the hand- 
ling of them requires me to state that I never missed a 
single article from them, and, barring the br(?akage of two 
or three bottles, which may or may not have been the fault 
of the opener, the contents were always undamaged. Some- 
times the boxes were sent directly from brigade headquar- 







■Amb 



A WAGON-LOAU OF ISOXES. 



ters to the headquarters of each company without inspection, 
and there only those were opened whose owners were known 
to imbibe freely on occasion. 

The boxes came, when they came at all, by wagon-loads 
— mule teams of the comj)an3'' going after them. I have 
already intimated that none were sent to tlie army when it 
was on the move or when a campaign was imminent; and 
as these moves were generally foreshadowed with tolerable 
accuracy, the men were likely to send tlieir orders home at 
about the same time, and so they would receive their boxes 
together. In this way it happened that they came to camp 
by -wagon-loads, and a happier, lighter-hearted body of men 
than those who were gathered around the wagons could not 
have been found in the service. 1 mean now those who were 



SPECIAL BATIONS. 221 

the fortunate recipients of a box, for there was always a sec- 
ond party on hand who did not expect a box, but who were 
on tlie spot to offer congratuhitions to tlie lucky ones; per- 
haps these would receive an invitation to quarters to see the 
box unpacked. Tliis may seem a very tantalizing invitation 
for them to accept ; but, nevertlieless, next to being the 
owner of the prize, it was most entertaining to observe what 
some one else was to enjoy. 

I tliink the art of box-packing must liave culminated 
during the war. It was simply wonderful, delightfully so, 
to see how eacli little corner and crevice was utilized. Not 
stuffed witli paper by those who understood their business, 
thus wasting space, but filled with a potato, an apple, an 
onion, a pinch of dried apples, a handful of peanuts, or some 
other edible substance. These and other articles filled the 
crannies between carefully wrapped glass jars or bottles of 
toothsome preserves, or boxes of butter, or cans of condensed 
milk or well roasted chickens, and the turkey that each box 
was wont to contain. If there was a new pair of boots 
among the contents, the feet were filled with little notions 
of convenience. Then, there was likely to be, amid all the 
other merchandise already specified, a roll of bandages and 
lint, for the much-feared but unhoped-for contingency of 
battle. It added greatly to the pleasures of the investigator 
to come now and then upon a nicely wrapped package, 
labelled " From Mary," " From Cousin John," and perhaps 
a dozen other relatives, neighbors, school-mates or shop-mates, 
most of which contributions were delicious surprises, and 
many of them accompanied by notes of personal regard and 
good-wishes. 

There were some men in every company who had no one 
at home to remember them in this tender and appreciative 
manner, and as they sat or stood by the hero of a box and 
saw one article after another taken out and unwrapped,- 
each speaking so eloquently of the loving care and thought- 
ful remembrance of kindred or friends, the}' were moved by 



222 HAItB TACK AND COFFEE. 

mingled feelings of pleasure and sadness : pleasure at their 
comrade's good-fortune and downright enjoyment of his 
treasure, and sadness at their own lonely condition, with 
no one to remendier them in this pleasant manner, and often 
would their eyes till with tears by the contrast of their own 
situation with the pleasant scene before them. But these 
men were generally remembered by a liberal donation when- 
ever a box came to camp. 

Still, there were selhsh men in every company, and, if 
they were selfish by nature, the war, I think, had a tendency 
to make them more so. Such men would keep their prec- 
ious box and its precious contents away from sight, smell, 
and taste of all outsiders. It was a little world to them, 
and all their own. "Send for a box yourself, if you want 
one," appeared in their every look, and often found expres- 
sion in words. As a boy I have seen a school-mate munch- 
ing an apple before now with two or three of his less favored 
acquaintances wistfully watching and begging for the core. 
But the men of whom I speak never had any core to their 
apples; they absorbed everything that was sent them. 

I knew one man who, I thiidc, came uncomfortably near 
belonging to tliis class of soldiers. The first box he ever 
received contained, among other delicacies, about a peck of 
raw onions. Before these onions had been reached in this 
man's consumption of the contents of his box a move was 
ordered. AVhat was to be done ? It Avas one of the trying 
moments of his life. Nineteen out of every twenty men, if 
not ninety-nine out of every hundred, would at this eleventh 
hour have set them outside of the tent and said, "Here they 
are, boys. Take hold and help yourselves ! " But not he. 
He was the hundredth man, the exception. So, packing 
them up with some old clothes, he at once expressed them 
back to his home. But, as I have intimated, such men 
were few in number, and, while war made this class more 
selfish, yet its community of hardship and danger and suffer- 
ing developed sympathy and large-hearted generosity among 



SPECIA L RA TIONS. 



223 



the rank and file generally, and they shared freely with 
their less fortunate but worthy comrades. 

Nothing, to my mind, better illustrates the fraternity 
developed in the army than the following poem, composed 
by Private Miles O'Reilly: — 

WE'VE DRANK FROM THE SAME CANTEEN. 

There are bonds of all sorts in this world of ours, 
Fetters of friendship and ties of tlowers, 

And true lover's knots, I ween. 
The girl and the boy are bound by a kiss, 
But there's never a bond, old friend, like this — 

We have drank from the same canteen. 




WE DKANK FROM THE SAME CANTEEX. 

It was sometimes water, and sometimes milk, 
And sometimes apple-jack fine as silk. 

But, whatever the tipple has been, 
We shared it together, in bane or bliss, 
And I warm to you friend, when I think of this- 

We have drank from the same canteen. 

The rich and the great sit down to dine, 
And they quaff to each other in sparkling wine. 
From glasses of crystal and green. 



224 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

But I guess in their golden jjotations they miss 
The warmth of regard to be found in this — 
We have drank from the same canteen. 

We have shared our blanlvets and tents togetlier, 
And liave marched and fought in all kinds of weather, 

And hungry and full we liave been ; 
Had days of battle and days of rest; 
But this memory I cling to, and love the best — 

We have drank from the same canteen. 

For when wounded I lay on the oiaer slope, 
With my blood flowing fast, and but little to hope 

Upon which my faint spirit could lean, 
Oh, then I remember you crawled to my side, 
And, bleeding so fast it seemed both must have died, 

We drank from the same canteen. 

But I will now leave this — to me deeply interesting 
theme — and introduce 

THE ARMY SUTLER. 

This personage played a very important part as quarter- 
master extraordinary to the soldiers. He was not an en- 
listed man, only a civilian. By Army Regulations sutlers 
could be appointed "at the rate of one for every regiment, 
corps, or separate detachment, by the commanding officer of 
such regiment, corps, or detachment," subject to the approval 
of higher authority. These persons made a business of sut- 
ling, or supplying food and a various collection of other 
articles to the troops. Each regiment was supplied Avith 
one of these traders, who pitched his hospital tent near 
camp, and displayed his wares in a manner most enticing to 
the needs of the soldier. The sutler was of necessity both 
a dry-goods dealer and a grocer, and kept, besides, such 
other articles as were likely to be called for in the service. 
He made his chief reliance, however, a stock of goods that 
answered the demands of the stomach. He had a line of 
canned goods which he sold mostly for use in officers' 
messes. The canning of meats, fruits, and vegetables was 



SPECIAL RATIONS. 



99K 



then ill its infancy, and the prices, which in time of 
peace were high, by the demands of war were so in- 
flated tliat the highest of high privates could not aspire to 

sample them unless he was the 
child of wealthy parents who 
supplied with a stock 
or greenbacks. It 
can readily 
be seen that 
his thirteen 




A sutler's text, fhoji a war-tijie photograph. 



dollars a month (or even sixteen dollars, to which the pay 
was advanced June 20, 1864, through the efforts of Henry 
Wilson, who strove hard to make it twenty-one dollars) 
would not hold out a great while to patronize an army 
sutler, and hundreds of the soldiers when the paymaster 
came round had the pleasure of signing away the entire 
amount due them, whether two, three, or four months' pay, 
to settle claims of the sutler upon them. Here are a few of 
his prices as I remember them : — 

Butter (warranted to be rancid), one dollar a pound; 
cheese, fifty cents a pound; condensed milk, seventy-five 
cents a can ; navy tobacco, of the blackest sort, one dollar 
and a quarter a plug. Other than the milk I do not remem- 
ber any of the prices of canned goods. The investment 
that seemed to pay the largest dividend to the purchaser 



226 



IIABD TACK AND COFFEE. 



was the molasses cakes or cookies which the sutlers vended 
at the rate of six for a quarter. They made a pleasant and 
not too rich or expensive dessert when hardtack got to be 
a burden. Then, one could buy sugar or molasses or flour 
of them, though at a higher price than the commissary 
charged for the same articles. 

The commissary, I think I have explained, was an officer 
in charge of government rations. From him quartermasters 
obtained their supplies for the rank and tile, on a written 
requisition given by the commander of a regiment or bat- 
tery. Pie also sold supplies for officers' messes at cost price, 
and also to members of the rank and file, if they presented 
an order signed by a commissioned officer. 

Towards the end of the war sutlers kept self-raising flour, 
which they sold in packages of a few pounds. This the men 

bought quite generally to make 
into fritters or pancakes. It 
would have pleased the cele- 
brated four thousand dollar 
cook at the Parker House, in 
Boston, could he have seen 
the men cook these fritters. 
The mixing was a simple mat- 
ter, as water was the only ad- 
dition which the flour required, 
but the fun was in the turning. 
A little experience enabled a 
man to turn them without the 
aid of a knife, by first giving 
the fry-pan a little toss upward and forward. This threw 
the cake out and over, to be cauf^ht again the uncooked side 
down — all in a half-second. But the miscalculations and 
mishaps experienced in performing this piece of culinary 
detail were numerous and amusing, many a cake being 
dropped into the fire, or taken by a sudden puff of wind, 
just as it got edgewise in the air, and whisked into the dirt. 




COOKING PANCAKES. 



SPECIAL RATIONS. 227 

Then, the sutler's pies I Who can forget tliem ? "Moist 
and indigestible below, tough and indestructible above, 
with untold liorrors within." The most mysterious prod- 
ucts that he kept, I have yet to see the soldier who can 
furnish a correct analysis of what they were made from. 
Fortunately for the dealer, it mattered very little as to that, 
for the soldiers were used to mystery in all its forms, and 
the pies went down by hundreds ; price, twenty-five cents 
each. Not very high, it is true, compared with other edi- 
bles, but they were small and thin, though for the matter of 
thickness several times the amount of such stuffing could 
have added but little to the cost. 

I have said that these army merchants were dry-goods 
dealers. The only articles which would come under this 
head, that I now remember of seeing, were army regula- 
tion hats, cavalry boots, tlannels, socks, and suspenders. 
Tliey were not allowed to keep liquors, and any one of them 
found guilty of this act straightway lost his permit to suttle 
for the troops, if nothing worse happened him. 

I am of the opinion that the sutlers did not always receive 
the consideration that the}^ deserved. Owing to the high 
prices which they asked the soldiers for their goods, the 
belief found ready currency that they were little better than 
extortioners; and I think that the name "sutler" to-day 
calls up in the minds of the old soldiers a man who would 
not enlist and shoulder his musket, but who was better sat- 
isfied to take his pack of goods and get his living out of the 
soldiers who were doing his fighting for him. But there is 
something to be said on the other side. In the first place, 
he filled a need recognized, long before the Rebellion, by 
xA.rmy Eegujations. Such a personage was considered a 
convenience if not a necessit}' at military posts and in cam- 
paigns, and certain privileges were accorded him. 

In the second place, no soldier was compelled to patronize 
him, and yet I question whether there was a man in tlie 
service any great length of time, within easy reach of one 



228 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



of tliese traders, who did not patronize liini more or less. 
In the third place, when one carefully considers the ex- 
pense of transporting his goods to the army, the wastage 
of the same from exposure to the weather, the cost of fre- 
quent removals, and the risk he carried of losing his stock 




SEKVIN'O OUT RATIONS AT THE 
cook's SHANTY. 



of goods in case of a dis- 
aster to the army, added 
to the constant increase in 
the cost of the necessaries 
of life, of which the soldiers were not cognizant, I do not 
believe that sutlers as a class can be justly accused of over- 
charging. I have seen one of these merchants since the war, 
who seemed seized with tlie fullest appreciation of the worth 
of his own services to the country, and, with an innocent 
earnestness most refreshing, applied for membership in the 
Grand Army of the Republic, into which only men who have 
an honorable discharge from the government are admitted. 

Tliere undoul)tedly were Shylocks among them, and they 
often had a hard time of it ; and this leads me to speak of 
another risk that sutlers had to assume — the risk of being 
raided — or "cleaned out," to quote the language of the ex- 
pressive army slang. This meant the secret organization of 
a party of men in a regiment to fall upon a sutler in the 



SPECIAL RATIONS. . 229 

darkness of night, throw down his tent, help themselves 
liberally to whatever they wanted, and then get back 
speedily and quietly to quarters. It did not do to carry 
stolen goods to the tents, for the next day was likely to see 
a detachment of men, accompanied by the sutler, searching 
the quarters for the missing property. Sometimes this raid- 
ing was done in a spirit of mischief, by unprincipled men, 
sometimes to get satisfaction for what they considered his 
exorbitant charges. Sometimes the officers (jf a reoiment 
sympathized in such a movement, if they tliought the 
sutler's exactions deserved a rebuke. When this was the 
case, it was no easy task to find the criminals, for the officers 
were very blind and stupid, or, if the culprits were detected, 
they were quietly reminded that if they were foolish enough 
to get caught they must suffer the penalty. But sutlers, 
like other people, profited by the teachings of experience, 
and, if they had faults, soon mended them, so that late in 
the war they rarely found it necessary to beg deliverance 
from their friends. 

The following incident came under my own knowledge in 
the winter of "64, while the Artillery Brigade of the Third 
Corps lay encamped in the edge of a pine woods near Bran- 
dy Station, Virginia. Just in rear of the Tenth Battery 
camp, near company headquarters, the brigade sutler had 
erected his tent, and every wagon-load of his supplies passed 
through this camp under the eyes of any one who cared to 
take note. A load of this description was thus inspected on 
a particular occasion, and while the wagon was standing in 
front of the tent waiting to be unloaded, and without 
S])ecial guarding, an always thirsty veteran stole up to it. 
seized upon a case of whiskey, said to have been destined 
for a battery commander, and was off in a jiffy. Less than 
three minutes elapsed before the case was missed. At once 
the ca[itain of the company was notified, who immediately 
gave his instructions to the officer of the day. The bugler 
blew the Assembli/, summoning every man into line ; and 



230 UARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

every man had to be there or be otherwise strictly accounted 
for by his sergeant. What it all meant no one aj^parently 
knew. Meanwhile, two lieutenants and the orderly were 
carrj'ing on a thorough search of the men's quarters. When 
it was completed, the orderly returned to the line, and the 
company was dismissed, in a curious frame of mind as to 
the cause of all the stir. This soon leaked out, as did also 
the fact that no trace of the missiug property had been dis- 
covered. All was again quiet along the Potomac, except 
when the culprit and his coterie waxed a little noisy over 
imbibitions of ardent mysteriously obtained, and not until 
after the close of the war was the mystery made clear. 

It seems tliat as soon as he had seized his prize he passed 
swiftly down through the camp to the picket rope, where 
the horses were tied, and there, in a pile of manure thrown 
■up behind them, quickly concealed the case, and, at the bugle 
signal, was prompt to fall into line. Under cover of dark- 
ness, the same night, the plunder was taken from the manure- 
heap and carried to a hill in front of the camp, where it was 
buried in a manner which would not disclose it to the casual 
traveller, and yet leave it easily accessible to its unlawful 
j)ossessor, and here he resorted periodically for a fresh sup- 
ply, until it was exhausted. 

I have quoted a few of the prices charged by sutlers. 
Here are a few of the prices paid by people in Richmond, 
duiing the latter part of the war, in Confederate money : — 

Potatoes $80 a bushel ; a chicken 150 ; shad 150 per pair ; 
beef 115 a pound ; bacon fiO a pound ; butter -$20 a pound ; 
flour 81500 a barrel ; meal f 140 a bushel ; beans 865 a 
bushel; cow-peas 180 a bushel; hard wood 850 a cord; 
green pine 880 a cord ; and a dollar in gold was worth 8100 
in Confederate money. 




CHAPTER XII. 

FORAGING. 



Can we all forget the foraging the boys were prone to do, 
As with problematic rations we were marching Dixie through ; 
And the dulcet screech of chanticleer or soothing squeal of swine. 
When occurred the grateful halt or brief excursion from the line? 

Prof, S. B. Sumner. 




HERE was one other source from 
which soldiers — at least, some sol- 
diers — replenished their larder, 
or added to its variety. The means 
employed to accomplish this end 
was known as Foraging^ which is 
generally understood to mean a 
seeking after food, whether for man 
or beast, and appropriating to one's 
own use whatsoever is found in 
this line, wheresoever it is found 
in an enemy's country. It took 
the army some time to adopt this mode of increasing its stores. 
This arose from the fact tliat early in the war many of the 
prominent government and military officers thought that a 
display of force with consideration shown the enemy's prop- 
erty would win the South back to her allegiance to the 
Union ; but that if, on the other hand, they devastated 
property and appropriated personal 'effects, it would only 
embitter tlie enemy, unite tliem more solidly, and greatly 
prolong the war; so that for many months after .war began, 
Northern troops were prohibited from seizing fence-rails, 
poultry, swine, straw, or any similar merchandise in which 

231 



2o2 IIAIW TACK AND COFFEE. 

they iiiiglit under some circumstances feel u personal inter- 
est; and whenever straw-stacks and fences tcere appropriated 
by order of commanding oflicers, certificates to that effect 
were given the owners, who might expect at some time to be 
reimbursed. But the Rebellion waxed a})ace, and outgrew 
all possibility of certificating everybody whose property was 
entered upon or absorbed, and furthermore it came to be 
known that many who had received certificates were in col- 
lusion with the eneni}', so that the issuance of these receipts 
gradually gi'ew beautifully less. 

Then, there was another obstacle in the way of a general 
adoption of fonlging as an added means of support. It was 
the presence in the army of a large number of men who had 
learned the ten commandments, and could not, with their 
early training and education, look upon this taking to them- 
selves the possessions of others without license as any dif- 
ferent from stealino-. These soldiers would neither forac^e 
nor share in the fruits of foraging. It can be readily imag- 
ined, then, that when one of this class commanded a regi- 
ment the diversion of foraging was not likely to be very 
general with his men. But as the war wore on, and it 
became more evident that such tender regard for Rebel 
propertv only strengthened the enemy and weakened the 
cause of tiie Union, conscientious scruples stepped to the 
rear, and the soldier who had them at the end of the war 
was a curiosity indeed. 

There are some phases of this question of foraging which 
at this late day may be calmly considered, and the right and 
wrong of it carefully weighed. In the first place, interna- 
tional law declares that in a hostile section an army may 
save its rations and live off the country. To the large 
majorit}' of the soldiers this would be sufficient warrant for 
them to appropriate from the enemv whatever they had a 
present liking for in the line of provisions. If all laws were 
based on absolute justice, the one quoted would settle the 
question finally, and leave nothing as an objection to forag- 



FOB AGING. 



iug. But wliile the majovit}' make the hiws, the consciences 
and convictions of the minority are not changed thereby. 
Each man's conscience must be a final law unto himself. 
It is well for it 
to be so. I on- '^ 
ly enlarge upon 
this f(n' a mo- 
ment to show 
that on all moral 
questions every 
intelligent man 
must in a meas- 
ure make his own 
science as a guide. 

The view which the average soldier 
took was, as already intimated, in har- 
mony with the international law quoted. 
This y'lew was, in substance, that the 

people of the South were in a state of rebellion against 
the government, notwithstanding that they had been duly 




A l)ISCO\i;UY. 



liavmgr 



:^«^^^^^ 




warned to desist from war and return to their allegiance ; 
that they had therefore forfeited all claim to whatever 
property the soldier chose to appropriate ; tliat this was 
one of the risks they assumed when they raised the ban- 
ner of secession ; that for this, and perhajis other reasons, 



234 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

they should be treated just as a foreign nation waging 
war against the United States, all of which may seem 
plausible at first view, and indeed it may be said just 
here that if the soldiers had always despoiled the enemy 
to supply their own pressing personal needs, or if they 
had always taken or destroyed only those things which 
could be of service to the enemy in the prosecution of the 
war, the arguments against foraging would be considerably 
weakened ; but the authority to forage carried with it also 
the exercise of the office of judge and jury, from whom there 
was no appeal. If the owner of a lot of corn or poultry was 
to protest against losing it, on the ground that he was a 
Unionist, unless the proof was at hand, he would lose his 
case — that is, his corn and chickens. However sincere he 
may have been, it was not possible for him to establish his 
Union sentiments at short notice. Indeed, so many who 
really were " secesh " claimed to be good Union men, it 
came latterly to be assumed that the victim was playing 
a false role on all such occasions, and so the soldiers 
went straight for the plunder, heeding no remonstrances. 
Without doubt, hundreds of Union men throughout the 
South suffered losses in this way, which, if their loyalty 
could have been clearly shown, they would have been 
spared. 

A good deal of the foraging, while unauthorized and for- 
bidden by commanding officers, was often connived at by 
them, and they were frequently sharers in the spoils ; but I 
was about to say that it was not always of the most judicious 
kind. No one, better than tlie old soldiers, knows how desti- 
tute many, if not most, of the houses along the line of march 
were of provisions, clothing, and domestic animals, after the 
first few months of the war. I will amend that statement. 
There tvas one class who knew better than the soldiers, — 
the tena7its of those houses knew that destitution better — 
sometimes feigned it, may be, but as a rule it Avas the ugly 
and distressing reality. I am dealing now with the Army 



FORAGING. 235 

of the Potomac, which travelled the same roads year after 
year, either before or behind the Rebel Army of Northern 
Virginia. In or near the routes of these bodies little was 
attempted by the people in the way of crop-raising, for their 
products were sure to feed one or the other of the two 
armies as the}^ tramped up and down the state, so that 
destitution in some of the wayside cabins and farm-houses 
was often quite marked. No one with a heart less hard 
than flint could deprive such families of their last cow, 
shote, or ear of corn. Yet there were many unauthorized 
foragers who would not hesitate a moment to seize and 
carry off the last visible mouthful of food. So it has seemed 
to me that the cup of Rebellion was made unnecessarily 
bitter from the fact that such appeals too often fell on deaf 
ears. Granting it to be true that the Rebels had forfeited 
all right to whatever property their antagonists saw fit to 
appropriate, yet in the absence of those Rebels their families 
ought not to suffer want and distress; the innocent should 
not suffer for the guilty, and when nothing was known 
against them they sliould not have been deprived of their 
last morsel. But there were exceptions. There were some 
families who gave information to the Rebel army or de- 
tachments of it, by which fragments of ours were killed or 
captured, and when this was known the members of that 
family were likely sooner or later to suffer for it, as would 
naturally be expected. 

Some of these families were so destitute that they were 
at times driven to appeal to the nearest army headquarters 
for rations to relieve their sufferings. To do this it was often 
necessary for them to walk many miles. Horses they had 
not. They could not keep them, for if the Union cavalry 
did not "borrow," the Rebel cavalry would impress them; so 
that they were not only without a beast of burden for farm 
work, but had none to use as a means of transportation. 
Now and then a sore-backed, emaciated, and generally used- 
up horse or mule, which had been abandoned and left in the 



236 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



track of the army to die, was taken charge of, when the coast 
was clear, and nursed back into vitality enough to stand on 
at least three of his legs, when, b}' means of bits of tattered 
rope, twisted corn-husks, and odds and ends of leather which 
had seen better days, the sorry-looking brute, still bearing the 
brand U. S. or C. S. on his rump, partly concealed perhaps 
by his rusty oufit, was tackled into a nondescript vehicle, 
possibly the skeleton remains of what had been, in years 




GOING TO ARMY IIEADQU AHTEHS. 



gone by, the elegant and stylish family carriage, but fully 
as often into a two-wheeled cart, which now answered all 
the purposes of the family in its altered circumstances. 
One would hardly expect to find in such a brute a Goldsmith 
Maid or a Jay Eye See in locomotion, and so as a matter of 
fact such a beast was urged on from behind by lusty thwacks 
from a cudgel, propelling the family at a headlong ^valk — 
headlong, because he was likely to go headlong at any 
moment, from lack of strength, over the rough Virginia 
roads. 

When such a brute got to be pretty lively once more, 
unless he was concealed, he would soon fall into service 
again in one of the armies, and possibly another gasping 
skeleton left in his place ; but later in the war all animals 
abandoned b}^ the Union army were shot if any life remained 
in them, so that even this resource was to that extent cut 



FORAGING. 237 

off from the inhabitants, and the family eotv., while she was 
spared, was fitted out for such service. 

But the soldiers did not always content themselves with 
taking eatables and forage. Destruction of the most wanton 
and inexcusable character was sometimes indulged in. It is 
charged upon them when the army entered Fredericksburg, 
in 1862, that they took especial delight in bayonetting mir- 
rors, smashing piano-keys with musket-butts, pitching crock- 
ery out of windows, and destroying other such inoffensive 
material, which could be of no possible service to either 
party. If they had been imbibing commissary whiskey, 
they were all the more unreasonable and outrageous in 
their destruction. Whenever a man was detected in the 
enactment of such disgraceful and unsoldierly conduct, 
he was put under arrest, and sentenced by court-martial. 
But this class of men was an insigniticantly small frac- 
tion of an army, although seeming very numerous to their 
victims. 

A regularly authorized body of foragers, in charge of 
a commissioned officer, never gave way to excesses like 
those I have mentioned. Their task was usually well de- 
fined. It was to go out with wagons in quest of the con- 
tents of smoke-houses or barns or corn-barns ; and if a flock 
of fowls or a few swine chanced to be a part of the live- 
stock of the farms visited, the worse for the live-stock 
and Secessia, and the better for the Union army. The 
usual [)lunder secured by regular foraging parties was 
hams, bacon sides, flour, sweet potatoes, corn-meal, corn on 
the cob, and sometimes corn-shooks as they were called, 
that is, corn-leaves stripped from the stalks, dried and 
bundled, for winter fodder. The neat cattle in the South 
get the most of their living in the winter by browsing, 
there being but little hay cured. 

In traversing fresh territory, the army came upon exten- 
sive quantities of corn in corn-ricks. At Wilcox's Landing, 
on the James River, where we crossed in June, 1864, the 



238 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



Rebel Wilcox, who had a splendid farm on the left bank 
of the river, had hundreds of bushels of corn, I should 
judge, which the forage trains took aboard before they 
crossed over ; and on the south side of the James, east from 
Petersburg, wiiere Northern troops had never before pene- 





A CORN-BARN AND HAY-KICK. 



trated, many such stores of corn were appropriated to feed 
the thousands of loyal quadrupeds belonging to Uncle Sam. 
In this section, too, and in the territory stretching from 
the Wilderness to Cold Harbor, immense quantities of to- 
bacco were found in the various stages of curing. The 
drying-houses were full of it. These houses were rude 
structures, having water-tight roofs, but with walls built of 
small logs placed two or three inches apart, to admit a free 
circulation of air. On poles running across the interior 
hung the stalks of tobacco, root upwards. Then, in other 
buildings were hogsheads pressed full of the " weed," in 
another stage of the curing. It is well known that Peters- 
burg is the centre of a very extensive tobacco-trade, and in 
that city are large tobacco-factories. But the war put a 
summary end to this business for the time, by closing north- 
ern markets and blockading southern ports, so that this 
article of foreion and domestic commerce accumulated in the 
hands of the producers to the very great extent found by 
the army when it a^jpeared in that vicinity. Every soldier 



FORAGING. 



239 




TOBACCO-DiniNG 



who had a liking for tobacco helped himself as freely as he 
pleased, with no one caring to stay his hand. But I believe 
that the experts in 
smoking and chew- 
ing preferred the 
black navy plug of 
the sutler, at a dol- 
lar and a quarter, to 
this unprepared but 
purer article to be 
had by the taking. 

While the army lay 
at Warrenton Sulphur Springs, after Gettysburg in '63, a 
detail of men was made from my company daily to take 
scythes from the " Battery Wagon," and, with a six-mule 
team, go off and mow a load of grass wherever they could 
find it within our lines, to eke out the government forage. 
The same programme was enacted by other batteries in 
the corjDS. 

As Sherman's Bummers achieved a notoriety as foragers 
par excellence, some facts regarding them will be of interest 
in this connection. Paragraphs 4 and 6 of Sherman's Spe- 
cial Field Orders 120, dated Nov. 9, 1864, just before start- 
ing for Savannah, read as follows : — 

" 4. The army will forage liberally on the country during 
the march. To this end each brigade commander will organ- 
ize a good and sufficient foraging party under the command 
of one or more discreet officers, who will gather, near the 
route travelled, corn or forage of any kind, meat of any 
kind, vegetables, corn-meal or whatever is needed b}^ the 
command, ainung at all times to keep in the wagons at 
least ten days' provisions for his command, and three daj^s' 
forage. Soldiers must not enter the dwellings of the inhab- 
itants or commit any trespass ; but during a halt or camp 
they may be permitted to gather turnips, potatoes, and 
other vegetables, and to drive in stock in sight of their 



240 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

camp. To regular foraging parties must be intrusted the 
gathering of provisions and forage at any distance from the 
road travelled." 

"6. As for horses, mules, wagons, etc., belonging to the 
inhabitants, the cavalry and artillery may appropriate freely 
and without limit ; discriminating, however, between the 
rich, who are usually hostile, and the poor and industrious, 
usually neutral or friendly. Foraging parties may also 
take mules or horses, to replace the jaded animals of their 
trains or to serve as pack-mules, for tlie regiments or bri- 
gades. In all foraging of whatever kind, the parties engaged 
will refrain from abusive or threatening language, and may, 
where the officer in command thinks proper, give written 
certificates of the facts, but no receipts ; and they will en- 
deavor to leave with each family a reasonable portion for 
their maintenance." 

As Sherman was among the commanders who believed 
most heartily in having those who provoked the conflict 
suffer the full measure of their crime, the above instructions 
seem certainly very mild and humane. On page 182, Vol. 
II., of his Memoirs, and also on pages 207-8, in a letter to 
Grant, describing the march, he presents a summary of the 
working of the plan. His brigade foraging parties, usually 
comprising about fifty men, would set out before daylight, 
knowing the line of march for the day, and, proceeding on 
foot five or six miles from the column, visit every farm and 
plantation in range. Their plunder consisted of bacon, 
meal, turkeys, ducks, chickens, and whatever else was eata- 
ble for man or beast. These they would load into the farm- 
wagon or family carriage, and rejoin the column, turning 
over their burden to the brigade commissary. " Often," 
says Sherman, '' would I pass these foraging parties at the 
roadside, waiting for their wagons to come up, and was 
amused at their strange collections — ■ mules, horses, even 
cattle packed with old saddles, and loaded with hams, bacon, 
bags of corn-ineal, and poultry of every description. . . . 



FOliAGIXG. 241 

No doubt, niaii}^ acts of pillage, robbery, and violence were 
committed by these foragers, usually called 'bummers'; 
for I have since heard of jewelry taken from women, and 
the plunder of articles that never reached the commissary ; 
but these acts were exceptional and incidental.'' Sherman 
further states that his army started with about live thousand 
head of cattle and arrived at the sea with about ten thou- 
sand, and that the State of Georgia must have lost by his 
operations fifteen thousand tirst-rate mules. As to horses, 
he says that every one of the foraging party of fifty who set 
out daily on foot invariably returned mounted, accompany- 
ing the various wagon-loads of provisions and forage seized, 
and, as there were forty brigades, an approximation to the 
number of horses taken can be made. 

But this travelling picnic of the Western armies was 
unique. There is nothing like it elsewhere in the history 
of the war. Certainly, the Army of the Potomac could not 
present anything to compare with it. As a matter of fact, 
there w"as no other movement in the war whose nature justi- 
fied such a season of riotous living as this one. But it 
illustrates in a wholesale way the kind of business other 
armies did on a retail scale. 

There was no arm of the service that presented sucli favor- 
able opportunities for foraging as did the cavalry, and none, I 
may add, which took so great an advantage of its opportu- 
nity. In the first place, being the eyes and the ears of the 
army, and usually going in advance, cavalrymen skimmed 
the cream off the country when a general movement was 
making. Then when it was settled down in camp they 
were the outposts and never let anj^thing in the line of 
poultry, bee-hives, milk-houses, and aj^ple-jack, not to enu- 
merate other delicacies which outlying farm-houses afforded, 
escape the most rigid inspection. Again, they were fre- 
quently engaged in raids through the country, from the 
nature of which they were compelled to live in large 
measure off southern products, seized as they went along ; 



242 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

but infantry and artillery must needs confine their quests 
for special rations to the homesteads near the line of 
march. The cavalry not only could and did search these 
when they led the advance, but also made requisitions on all 
houses in sight of the thoroughfares travelled, even when 
they were two or three miles away, so that, in all probability, 
they ate a smaller quantity of government rations, man for 
man, than did any other branch of the land-service ; but 
they did not therefore always fare sumptuously, for now 
and then the cavalry too were in a strait for rations. 

Next to the cavalry, the infantry stood the best chance of 
good living on foraged edibles, as their picket-duty took 
them away some distance from the main lines and often into 
the neighborhood of farm-houses, from which they would 
buy or take such additions to their rations as the premises 
afforded. Then, they went out in reconnoitring parties, or, 
perhaps, to do fatigue duty, such as the building of bridges, 
or the corduroying of roads, which also opened opportuni- 
ties for them to enlist a few turkeys or chickens in the 
Union cause. 

Perhaps the most unfortunate natives were those who 
chanced to live in a house by the roadside in the direct line 
of march of the army, for, from the time the head of the 
column struck such a house until the last straggler left it, 
there was a continuous stream of officers and men thronging 
into and about the premises, all ambitious to buy or beg or 
take whatsoever in the line of eatables and drinkables 
was to be had by either of these methods. The net result 
of this was to leave such families in a starving condition, 
and finally begging rations from the arm3^ Those families 
by whose premises both armies marched were in the depths 
of distress, for Confederate soldiers let little in the way of 
provisions escape their maws on their line of march, even in 
Virginia ; so that it was not unusual for such families to 
meet the Union advance with tearful eyes, and relate the 
losses which they had sustained and the beggary to which 



FORAGING. 



243 



they had been reduced by the seizure of their last cow and 
last ounce of corn-meal. Sometimes, no doubt, they deceived 
to ward off impending search and seizure from a new quarter, 
but as a rule the premises showed their statements to be true. 
Sometimes the inhabitants were shrewd and watchful 
enough to scent danger and secrete the articles most pre- 
cious to them till the danger was past ; but not infrequently 
they were a little tardy in adopting such a measure, and 
were overhauled just before they had reached cover, and 




SCENE AT A WAYSIDE FARM-HOUSE. 



despoiled of the whole or a part of their treasure. The 
corn-fields of these roadside residents were the saddest of 
spectacles after the army had passed along in the early fall, 
for no native-born Southron had a finer appreciation of the 
excellent qualities of " roasting ears " than the average 
Yankee soldier, who left no stalk unstripped of its burden. 
Even the stalks themselves were used, to regale the appetites 
of the horses and mules. 

Volumes might be filled with incidents of foraging. I 
will relate one or two that came under my own personal 
observation. 

The people of Maryland undoubtedly enjoyed greater 
exemption from foragers, as a whole, than did those of 
Virginia, for a larger number of the former than of the 



244 HAIW TACK AND COFFEE. 

latter were supposed to be loyal and were therefore pro- 
tected. I say supposed., for personally I am of the opinion 
that the Virginians were fully as loyal as the Marylanders. 
But a large number of the soldiers when fresh and new in 
the service saw an enemy in every bush, and recognized no 
white man south of Mason and Dixon's line as other than a 
"secesh." Very often they were right, but the point I wish 
to make is that they indulged in foraging to a greater 
extent probably than troops which had been longer in 
service. Before my own company had seen any hard 
service it was located at Poolesville, thirty-eiglit miles from 
Wasliington, where it formed part of an independent bri- 
gade, which was included in the defences of Washington, 
and under the command of Genei'al Heintzelman. While 
we lay there drilling, growling, and feeding on government 
rations, a sergeant of the guard imperilled his chevrons by 
leading ofT a midnight foraging party, after having first com- 
municated the general countersign to the entire party. On 
this particular occasion a flock of sheep was the object of the 
expedition. These sheep had been looked upon with long- 
ing eyes many times by the men as they rode their horses to 
water by their pasture, which was, perhaps, half a mile or 
more from camp. 

As soon as the foragers came upon them in the darkness, 
the sheep cantered away, and their adversaries, who could 
only see them when near to them, followed in full pursuit. 
As the chase up and down the enclosure, which was not a 
very large one, waxed warm, one of the party, more noted 
for his zeal than his discretion, drew a revolver and emptied 
nearly every barrel among the flock, doing no bodily injury 
to the sheep, however, but lie did succeed in calling down 
upon his head the imprecations of the sergeant, for his lack 
of good-sense, and with reason, for in a few minutes the fire 
of the outer pickets was drawn. This being heard and 
reported in camp, the long-roll was sounded, calling into 
line the two regiments of infantry that lay near us, and 



FORAGING. 245 

causing every preparation to be made to resist tlie supposed 
attack. The foragers, meanwhile, skulked back to camp by 
the shortest route, bringing with them two sheep that had 
been run down by some of the fleeter of the party. But no 
one save an interested few, inside or outside of the company, 
ever knew, until the story was told at a reunion of the com- 
pany in '79 or '80, the cause of all the tumult in camp that 
dark winter's night. 

On another occasion a party of five or six men stole out 
of camp at midnight, in quest of poultry. They knew of a 
farm-house where poultry was kept, but to ascertain its exact 
whereabouts at night was no easy task. On looking around 
the premises they found that there was no isolated out-build- 
ing, whereupon they at once decided that the ell to the main 
house must be the place which contained the "biddies"; but 
to enter that might rouse the farmer and his family, which 
they did not care to do. However, a council of war decided 
to take the risk, and storm the place. Investigation showed 
the door to be padlocked, but a piece of iron which lay con- 
veniently near, on a window-sill, served to pull out the staple, 
and the door was open. Meanwhile, guards had been posted 
at the corners of the house, with drawn revolvers (which 
they would not have dared to fire), and the captures began. 
One man entered the ell, and, lighting a match, discovered 
that he had called at the right house, and that the feathered 
family were at home. Among them he caught a glimpse of 
two turkeys, and tlfese, with four fowls taken one at a time 
by the neck, to control their noise, were passed to anotlier 
man standing at the door with a pen-knife, who, having per- 
formed a successful surgical operation on each, gave them to 
a third party to put in a bag. 

Back of our camp stood the house of a secessionist, — at 
least, " Black Mary," his colored servant, said he was one, — 
and in his kitchen and cook-stove, for the sum of twenty- 
five cents in scrip, having })reviously dressed and stuffed 
them, Mary cooked the turkeys most royally, and one com- 



246 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 




NO .KIKE. 



missioned officer of our company, at least, sat down to one 
of the feasts, blissfully ignorant, of course, as to the source 
from which the special ration was drawn. 

Bee-hives were among the most popular products of forag- 
ing. The soldiers tramped many a mile by night in quest 
of these depositories of sweets. I recall an incident oc- 
curring in the Tenth Ver- 
mont Regiment — once bri- 
gaded with my company — 
when some of the foragers, 
who had been out on a 
tramp, brought a hive of 
bees into camp, after the 
men had wrapped them- 
selves in their blankets, 
and, by way of a joke, set 
it down stealthily on the 
stomach of the captain of 
one of the companies, making business quite lively in that 
neighborhood shortly afterwards. 

Foragers took other risks than that of punishment for 
absence from camj) or the column without leave. They 
were not infrequently murdered on these expeditions. On 
the 7th of December, 1864, Warren's Fifth Corps was 
started southward from Petersburg, to destroy the Weldon 
Railroad still further. On their return, they found some of 
their men, who had straggled and foraged, lying by the 
roadside murdered, their bodies stark naked and shockingly 
mutilated. One of Sherman's men recently related how in 
the Carolinas one of his comrades was found hanged on 
a tree, bearing this inscription, " Death to all foragers." 
A large number of men were made prisoners while away 
from their commands after the usual fruits of foraging — 
just how many, no one will ever know; and many of those 
not killed on the spot by their captors ended their lives in 
the prison-pens. 



FORAGING. 



247 



During the expedition of the Fifth Corps alluded to, 
while the column had halted at some point in its march, a 
few uneasy spirits, wishing for something eatable to turn up, 
had made off down a liill, ahead of the column, had crossed 
a stream, and reached the vicinity of a house on the high 
ground the other side. Here a keen-scented cavalryman 
from the party had started up two turkeys, which, as the 
pursuit grew close, flew up on to the top of the smoke-house, 
whence, followed by their relentless pursuer, they went 




THE TURKEY HE DIDN T CATCH. 



still higher, to the ridge-pole of the main house adjoining. 
Still up and forward pressed the trooper, his " soul in arms 
and eager for the fray," and as the turkeys with fluttering 
wings edged away, the hungry veteran, now astride the 
ridge-pole, hopped along after, when pin(/ ! a bullet whistled 
by uncomfortably near him. 

"What in thunder are you about!" blurted the cavalry- 
man, suspecting his comrades of attempting to shoot off his 
quarry in the moment of victory. 

Receiving no satisfactory response from his innocent com- 
panions, who had stood interested spectators of his exploit, 
yet unconscious of what he was exclaiming at, he once more 
addressed himself to the pursuit when, chuck ! a bullet 
struck a shingle by his leg and threw the splinters in his 
face. There was no mistaking the mark or the marksman 
this time, and our trooper suddenly lost all relish for turkey. 



248 



IIABD TACK AND COFFEE. 



and, standing not on the order of his going, came sliding 
and tumbling down off the roof, striking the ground with 
too much emphasis and a great deal of feeling, where, joined 
by his comrades, who by this time had taken in the situa- 
tion, he beat a hasty retreat, followed by the jeei's of the 
Johnnies, and rejoined the column. 

A veteran of the Seventh New Hampshire tells of one 
Charley Swain, who was not only an excellent duty soldier, 




A DILEMMA. 



but a champion forager. While this regiment lay at St. 
Augustine, Fla., in 1863, Swain started out on one of his 
quests for game, and, although it had grown rather scarce, 
at last found two small pigs penned up in the suburbs of the 
town. His resolve was immediately made to take them into 
camp. Securing a barrel, he laid it down, open at one end, 
in a corner of the pen, and without commotion soon had 
both grunters inside the barrel, and the barrel standing on 
end. By hard tugging he lifted it clear of the pen, and, 
taking it on his back, started rapidly for camp. But his 
passengers were not long reconciled to such quick and close 



FORAGING. 



249 



transit, for he had not proceeded far before grunts developed 
mto squeals, squeals into internal dissensions, to which the 
bottom of the barrel at last succumbed, and a brace of pigs 
were coursing at liberty. Here was a poser for the spoils- 
man. If he caught them again, how should he carry them ? 
While he was attempting to solve this problem the cavalry 
patrol hove in sight, and Swain made for camp, where, crest- 
fallen and chagrined, he related how he had left to the 
greedy maws of the provost-guard the quarry which he had 
hoped to share with his mess that^ night. 

In considering tliis question of foraging, it has not been 
my purpose to put the soldiers of the Union armies in an 
unfair or unfavorable position as compared with their oppo- 
nents. It has been claimed tliat Southerners on northern 
soil were more vindictive and wanton than Northerners on 
southern soil ; and the reason on which this statement is 
based is that the South hated the Yankees, but the North 
hated oidy slavery. Nor is it my intention to charge atroci- 
ties upon the best men of either army. They were com- 
mitted by the few. And I do not wish to be understood as 
declaring foraging a black and atrocious act, for, as I have 
shown, it liad a legal warrant. I only claim that when the 
order once o:oes forth it leads to excesses, which it is difficult 
to control, and such excesses are likely to seriously affect 
the unoffending, defenceless women and children with woes 
out of all proportion with their simi)le part in bringing on 
the strife. But so it always has been, and so it probably 
always will be, till wars and rumors of wars shall cease. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

CORPS AND CORPS BADGES. 

" You'll find lovely fighting 
Along the whole line." 




KliARNY. 

HAT was an army corps ? Tlie 
name is one adopted into the Eng- 
lisli language from the French, 
and retains essentially its original 
meaning. It has been customary 
since the time of Napoleon I. to 
organize armies of more than fifty 
or sixty thousand men into what 
the French call corps tVannee or, 
as Ave say, army corps. 
It is a familiar fact that soon after the outbreak of the 
Rebellion Lieutenant-General Scott, who liad served with 
great distinction in the Mexican War, found himself too old 
and infirm to conduct an active campaign, and so the command 
of the troops, that were rapidly concentrating in and around 
Washington, was devolved upon the late General Irvin 
McDowell, a good soldier withal, but, like every other 
officer then in the service, without extended war experience. 
His first work, after assuming command, would naturally 
have been to organize the green troops into masses that 
would be more cohesive and effective in action than single 
undisciplined regiments could be. But this he was not 
allowed to do. The loyal people of the North were clamor- 
ing for something else to be done, and that speedily. The 
Rebels must be punished for their treason without delay, 
and President Lincoln was beset night and day to this end. 

250 



FIRST CORPS. 






1ST DIV. 



2 N9 DIV. 
SECOND CORPS. 



3Re DIV. 






1ST DIV. 2N5DIV. 3R5DIV. 

THIRD CORPS. 






ISiDIV. 2NODIV. 3R5DIV. 

THIRD CORPS ARTILLERY BRIGADE. (l863) 






I5TDIV. 2N9DIV. 3R9DIV. 

FOURTH CORPS. 






15T DIV. 



2NeDIV. 3R5DIV. 



MclNooE BROS., Printers, Boston. 



CORPS AJVB CORPS BADGES. 251 

In vain did McDowell 2>iead for a little more time. It could 
not be granted. If onr troops were green and inexperi- 
enced, it was urged, so were the Rebels. It is said that 
because he saw fit to review a body of eiglit regiments he 
was charged with attempting to make a show, so impatient 
was public sentiment to have rebellion put down. So 
having done no more than to arrange his regiments in 
brigades, without giving them an}- discipline as such, with- 
out an organized artillery, without a commissariat, without 
even a staff to aid him, McDowell, dividing his force, of 
about 35,000 men, into live divisions, put four of them in 
motion from the Virginia bank of the Potomac against the 
enemy, and tlie result was — Bull Run, a battle in which 
brigade commanders did not know their commands and 
soldiers did not know their generals. In reality, the battle 
was one of regiments, rather than of brigades, the regiments 
fighting more or less independently. But better things were 
in store. 

Bull Run, while comparatively disastrous as a battle-field, 
Avas a grand success to the North in other respects. It 
sobered, for a time at least, the hasty reckless s[)irits who 
believed that the South would not fight, and who were so 
unceasingly thorning the President to immediate decisive 
action. They were not satisfied, it is true, but they were 
less importunate, and manifested a willingness to let the 
•authorities have a short breathing spell, which was at once 
given to better preparation for the future. 

All eyes seemed now to turn, by common agreement, to 
General George B. McClellan, to lead to victory, who was 
young, who had served with distinction in the Mexican War, 
had studied European warfare in the Crimea, and, above all, 
had just finished a successful campaign in West Virginia. 
He took command of the forces in and around Washington 
July 27, 1861, a command which then numbered about fifty 
thousand infantry, one thousand cavalry, and six hundred 
.and fifty artillerymen, with nine field batteries, such as they 



252 HAED TACK AND COFFEE. 

were, of tliivty guns. A part of these liad belonged to 
McDowell's Bull Run arni}^ and a part had since arrived 
from the North. The brigade organization of McDowell 
was still in force on the Virginia side of the Potomac. I 
say in force. That statement needs qualifying. I have 
already said that there was originally no cohesion to these 
brigades; but since the battle the army was little better 
than a mob in the respect of disci[)line. Officers and men 
were absent from their commands without leave. The 
streets of Washington were swarming with them. But I 
must not wander too far from the point I have in mind 
to consider. I only throw in these statements of the situa- 
tion to sfive a clearer idea of what a tremendous task 
McClellan had before him. In organizing' the Army of the 
Potomac he first arranged the infantry in brigades of four 
regiments each. Then, as fast as new regiments arrived — 
and at that time, under a recent call of the President for 
live hundred thousand three years' volunteers, they were 
coming in very rapidly, — they were formed into temporary 
brigades, and placed in camp in the suburbs of the city to 
await their full equipment, which many of them lacked, to 
become more efficient in the tactics of "Scott" or '•'Hardee," 
and, in general, to acquire such discipline as would be valu- 
able in the service before them, as soldiers of the Union. 
As rapidl}' as these conditions were fairly complied with, 
regiments were permanently assigned to brigades across the 
Potomac. 

After this formation of brigades had made considerable 
headway, and the troops were becoming better disciplined 
and tolerably skilled in brigade movements, McClellan began 
the organization of Divisions, each comprising three brigades. 
Before the middle of October, 1861, eleven of these divisions 
had been organized, each including, besides the brigades of 
infantry specified, from one to four light batteries, and from 
a company to two regiments of cavalry which had been 
specially assigned to it. 



CORPS AND CORPS BADGES. 253 

The next step in the direction of organization was the 
formation of Army Corps; but in this matter McClellan 
moved slowly, not deeming it best to form them until his 
division commanders had, by experience in the field, shown 
which of them, if any, had the ability to handle so large a 
body of troops as a corps. This certainly seemed good judg- 
ment. The Confederate authorities appear to have been 
governed by this principle, for they did not adopt the sys- 
tem of army corps until after the battle of Antietam, in 
September, 1862. But months had elapsed since Bull Run. 
Eighteen hundred and sixty-two had dawned. " All quiet 
along the Potomac " had come to be used as a by-word and 
reproach. That pov/erful moving force. Public Sentiment, 
was again crystallizing along its old lines, and making itself 
felt, and "Why don't the army move?" was the oft-re- 
peated question wliich gave to the propounder no sat- 
isfactory answer, because to him, with the public pulse 
again at fever-beat, no answer could be satisfactory. 
Meanwhile all these forces propelled their energies and 
persuasions in one ^,,nd the same direction, the White 
House ; and President Lincoln, goaded to desperation by 
their persistence and insistence, issued a War Order March 
8, 1862, requiring McClellan to organize his command into 
five Army Corps. So far, well enough ; but the order went 
further, and specified who the corps commanders should be, 
thus depriving him of doing that for which he had waited, 
and giving him officers in those positions not, in his opinion, 
the best, in all respects, that could have been selected. 

But my story is not of the commanders, nor of McClellan, 
but of the corps, and what I have said will show how they 
were composed. Let us review for a moment : first, the 
regiments., each of which, when full, contained one thousand 
and forty-six men ; four of these composed a brigade ; 
three brigades were taken to form a division, and three divis- 
ions constituted a corps. This system was not always 
rigidly adhered to. Sometimes a corps had a fourth divis- 



254 IIAIU) TACK AND COFFEE. 

ioii, but such a case would be a deviation, and not the 
regular plan. So, too, a division might have an extra 
brigade. For example, a brigade might be detached from 
one part of the service and sent to join an army in another 
part. Such a brigade would not be allowed to remain 
independent in that case, but would be at once assigned 
to some division, usually a division whose brigades were 
small in numbers. 

I have said that McClellan made up his brigades of four 
reo-iments. I think the usual number of regiments for a 
brigade is three. That gives a system of threes throughout. 
But in this matter also, after the first organization, the plan 
was modified. As a brigade became depleted by sickness, cap- 
ture, and the bullet, new regiments were added, until, as the 
work of addition and depletion went on, I have known a 
brio-ade to have within it the skeletons of ten regiments, and 
even then its strength not half that of the original body, 
M}' cam}) was located at one time near a regiment which 
had only tlurtij-eiijht vien present for duty. 

There were twenty-five army corps in the service, at 
different times, exclusive of cavalry, engineer, and signal 
corps, and Hancock's veteran corps. The same causes 
which operated to reduce brigades and divisions naturall}' 
decimated corps, so that some of them were consolidated; as, 
for example, the First and Third Corps were merged in the 
Second, Fifth, and Sixth, in the spring of 1864. At about 
the same time the Eleventh and Twelfth were united to 
form tlie Twentieth. But enougli of corps for the present. 
What I have stated will make more intelligible what I shall 
say about 

CORPS BADGES. 

Wliat are corps badges ? The answer to this question is 
somewhat lengthy, but I tliiidc it will be considered interest- 
ing. The idea of corps badges undoubtedly had its origin 
with General Philip Kearny, but just hoiv or exactly ivhen 



CORPS AND CORPS BADGES. 255 

is somewhat legendary and uncertain. Not having become 
a membei' of Kearny's old corps until about a year after the 
idea was promulgated, I have no tradition of my own in 
regard to it, but I have heard men who served under him 
tell widely differing stories of the origin of the ' Kearny 
Patch,' yet all agreeing as to the author of the idea, and also 
in its application being made first to officers. General E. D. 
Townsend, late Adjutant-General of the United States 
Army, in his '-'- Anecdotes of the Civil TFar," has adopted an 
explanation which, I have no doubt, is substantially correct. 
He says : — 

" One day, when his brigade was on the march, General 
Philip Kearn}', who was a strict disciplinarian, saw some 
officers standing under a tree by the roadside ; supposing 
them to be stragglers from his command, he administered to 
them a rebuke, emphasized by a few expletives. The 
officers listened in silence, respectfidl}^ standing in the 'posi- 
tion of a soldier ' until he had finished, when one of them, 
raising his hand to his cap, quietly suggested that the general 
had possibly made a mistake, as they none of them belonged 
to his command. With his usual courtesy, Kearny exclaimed, 
'Pardon me ; I will take steps to know how to recognize my 
own men hereafter.' Immediately ou reaching camp, he 
issued orders that all officers and men of his brigade should 
wear conspicuously on the front of their caps a round piece 
of red cloth to designate them. This became generally 
known as the ' Kearny Patch.' *' 

I tliink General Townsend is incorrect in saying that 
Kearny issued orders immediately on reaching camp for 
all "officers and men " to wear the patch; first, because the 
testimou}^ of officers of the old Third Corps to-day is that 
the order was first directed to officers only., and this would 
be in harmony with the explanation which I have quoted ; 
and, second, after the death of Kearny and while his old 
division was lying at Fort Lyon, Va., Sept. 4, 1862, General 
D. B. Birney, then in command of it, issued a general order 



256 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

announcing his cleatli, wliich closed with the following para- 
graph : — 

"As a token of respect for his memory, all the officers of 
this division will wear crape on the left arm for thirty days, 
and the colors and drums of regiments and batteries will be 
placed in mourning for sixty days. To still further show 
our regard, and to distinguish his officers as he wished, each 
officer will continue to wear on his cap a piece of scarlet 
cloth, or have the top or crown-piece of the cap made of 
scarlet cloth." 

The italics in the above extract are my own ; but we may 
fairly infer from it : — 

First, that up to this date the patch had been required for 
officers alone, as no mention is made of the rank and file in 
this order. 

Second, that General Kearny did not specify the lozenge 
as the shape of the badge to be worn, as some claim ; for, had 
such been the case, so punctilious a man as General Birney 
would not have referred in general orders to a lozenge as 
" a piece of scarlet cloth," nor have given the option of hav- 
ing the crown-piece of the cap made of scarlet cloth if the 
lamented Kearny's instructions had originall}^ been to wear a 
lozenge. This being so. General Townsend's quoted descrip- 
tion of the badge as "a round piece of red cloth " is probably 
erroneous. 

As there were no red goods at hand when Kearny initia- 
ted this move, he is said to have given up his own red blan- 
ket to be cut into these patches. 

Soon after these emblems came into vogue anions the 
officers there is strong traditional testimony to show that 
the men of the rank and file, ivithout general orders, of their 
own accord cut pieces of red from their overcoat linings, or 
obtained them from other sources to make patches for them- 
selves ; and, as to the shape, there are weighty reasons for 
believing that any piece of red fabric, of whatsoever shape, 
was considered to answer the purjjose. 




ISX Dl V. 



^^ 



n_ 



1ST Dl V. 




ST DIV. 



FIFTH CORPS. 



2 NO DIV 
SIXTH CORPS. 



L 



2 N°DI V, 
SEVENTH CORPS. 




2 N B D I V. 
EIGHTH CORPS. 




3R?DI V. 




3 R >? D I V. 




3R°D1V. 




J5TDIV- 2N5.DIV. 3R5DIV. 4Tt'DIV. 



MclNDOE Bros., Printei^s, boston. 



COUPS Ayn corps badges. 257 

These red patclies took immensely with the "boys." 
Kearny was a rough soldier in speech, but a perfect dare- 
devil in action, and his men idolized him. Hence they were 
only too proud to wear a mark which should distinguish 
them as members of his gallant division. It was saul to 
have greatly reduced the straggling in this body, and also to 
have secured for the wounded or dead that fell into the 
Rebels' hands a more favorable and considerate atten- 
tion. 

There was a special reason, I tldnk, why Kearny should 
select a red patch for his men, although 1 have never seen 
it referred to. On the 24th of March, 1862, General 
McClellan issued a general order prescribing the kinds of 
flags that should designate corps, division, and brigade head- 
quarters. In this he directed that the First Division flag 
should be a red one, six feet by five ; the Second Division 
blue, and the Third Division a red and blue one ; — botli of 
the same dimensions as the first. As Kearny commanded 
the First Division, he would naturally select the same 
color of patch as his flag. Hence the red patch. 

The contagion to wear a distinguishing badge extended 
widely from this simple beginning. It was the most natural 
thing that could happen for other divisions tO be jealous 
of any innovation whicli, by comparison, should throw 
them into the background, for by that time the esprit de 
corps, the pride of organization, had begun to make itself 
felt. Realizing this fact, and regarding it as a manifestation 
that might be turned to good account, ^Major-General 
Joseph Hooker promulgated a scheme of army corps badges 
on the 21st of March, 1863, which was the iirst systematic 
plan submitted in this direction in the armies. Hooker took 
command of the Army of the Potomac Jan. 26, 1863. Gen- 
eral Daniel Butterfield was made his chief-of-staff, and he, 
it is said, had much to do with designing and perfecting the 
first scheme of badges for the army, which appears in the 
following circular : — 



258 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

Headquartkks Akmy of tue Potomac. 
Circular. March 21, 1863. 

For the purpose of ready recognition of corps and divisions of tlie army, 
and to prevent injustice by reports of straggling and misconduct througli 
mistake as to their organizations, the chief quartermaster will furnish, with- 
out delay, the following badges, to be worn by the officers and enlisted men 
of all the regiments of the various corps mentioned. They will be securely 
fastened upon the centre of the top of the cap. The inspecting officers will 
at all inspections see that these badges are worn as designated. 

First Corps — a sphere : red for First Division; white for Second; blue 
for Third. 

Second Corps — a trefoil: red for First Division; white for Second; blue 
for Third. 

Third Corps — a lozenge: red for First Division; white for Second; blue 
for Third. 

Fifth Corps — a IMaltese cross : red for First Division; white for Second; 
blue for Third. 

Sixth Corps — a cross: red for First Division; white for Second; blue for 
Third. (Light Division, green.) 

Eleventh Corps — a crescent: red for First Division; while for Second; 
blue for Third. 

Twelfth Corps — a star: red for P'irst Division ; white for Second; blue for 
Third. 

The sizes and colors will be according to pattern. 

By command of 

MAJOK-GEJfEKAL HOOKER, 

S. Williams, A.A.G. 

Accompanying this order were ])aper patterns pasted on a 
fly-leaf, illustrating the size and color required. It will be 
seen that the badges figured in the color-plates are much re- 
duced in size. Diligent inquiry and research in the depart- 
ments at Washington fail to discover any of the jjatterns 
referred to, or their dimensions ; but there are veterans 
living who have preserved the first badge issued to them in 
pursuance of this circular, from which it is inferred that the 
patterns were of a size to please the eye rather than to con- 
form to any uniform scale of measurement. A trefoil which 
I have measured is about an inch and seven-eighths each 
way. It is a copy of an original. The stem is straight, 
turning neither to the ricrht nor left. 




ANDREW S CROSS. 



CORPS AND COUPS BADGES. 259 

The arms of the Fifth Corps badge are often figured as 
concave, whereas tliose of a ^Maltese cross are straig-lit. Tliis 
is believed to be a deviation from the original in the minds 
of many veterans who wore them, 
and they are changed accordingly in 
the color-plate. 

The Sixth Corps woi'e a St. An- 
drew's cross till 1864, when it changed 
to the Greek cross figured in the plate. 

That this circular of Hooker's was 
not intended to be a dead letter was 
shown in an cn-der issued from Fal 
mouth, Va., May 12, 1803, in which 
he says : — 

" The badges worn by tlie troops when lost or torn off 
must be immediately replaced." 

And then, after designating the only troops that are with- 
out badges, he adds : — 

"Provost-marshals will arrest as stragglers all other troops 
found without badges, and return them to their commands 
under guard." 

There was a badge worn by the artillery brigade of the 
Third Corps, which, so far as I know, had no counterpart in 
other corps. I think it was not adopted until after Getty s- 
buig. It was the lozenge of tlie corps subdivided into four 
smaller lozenges, on the following basis : If a batter}^ was 
attached to the first division, two of these smaller lozenges 
were red, one white, and one blue ; if to the second, two 
were white, one red, and one blue ; and if to the third, two 
were blue, one red, and one white. They were worn on the 
left side of the cap. 

The original Fourth Corps, organized by McClellan, did 
not adopt a badge, but its successor of the same number 
wore an equilateral triangle prescribed by Major-General 
Thomas, April 26, 1864, in General (Orders No. 62, Depart- 
ment of the Cumberland, in which lie used much the same 



260 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

language as that used by Hooker in his circular, and desig- 
nated divisions by the same colors. 

The badge of the Seventh Corps was a crescent nearly 
encircling a star. It was not adopted until after the virtual 
close of the war, June 1, 1865. The following is a para- 
graph from the circular issued by Major-General J. J. Rey- 
nolds, Department of Arkansas, regarding it : — 

" Tins badge, cut two inches in diameter, from cloth of 
colors red, white, and blue, for the 1st, 2d, and 3d Divisions 
respectively, may be worn by all eidisted men of the Corps." 

This was an entirely different corps from the Seventh 
Corps, whicli served in Virginia, and which had no badge. 
The latter was discontinued Aug. 1, 186-3, at the same time 
with the original Fourth Corps. 

The Eighth Corps wore a six-pointed star. I have not 
been able to ascertain the date of its adoption. There was 
no order issued. 

The Ninth Cor2:)S was originally a part of the Army of the 
Potomac, but at the time Hooker issued liis circular it was 
in another part of the Confederacy. Just before its return 
to the army. General Burnside issued General Orders No. 6, 
April 10, 1864, announcing as the badge of his corps, "A 
shield with the figure iiine in the centre crossed with a foul 
anchor and cannon, to be worn on the top of the cap or 
front of the liat." This corps had a fourth division, whose 
badge was green. The corps commander and his staff wore 
a badge " of red, white, and blue, with gilt anchor, cannon, 
and green number." 

December 23, 1864, Major-General John G. Parke, who 
had succeeded to the command, issued General Orders No. 
49, of which the following is the first section : — 

" 1. All officers and enlisted men in this command will 
be required to wear the Corps Badge upon the cap or hat. 
For the Divisions, the badges will be plain, made of cloth in 
the shape of a shield — red for the first, white for the second, 
and blue for the third. For the Artillery Brigade, the 




1ST DIV. 




ISTDIV. 




1ST DIV. 




ISTDIV. 



TENTH CORPS. 

I — i\ 

2 NDDIV. 
ELEVENTH CORPS. 




3R9DIV» 





2N9DIV. 3R°DIV. 

TWELFTH CORPS. 



A 





2N°DIV. 3RPDIV. 

FOURTEENTH CORPS. 




2N?DIV. 
FIFTEENTH CORPS. 




3R5DIV. 







ISTDIV. 2NeDIV. 3R5DIV. 4TyDlV. 



CORPS AND CORPS BADGES. 



261 




AN ORIGINAL NINTH CORPS 
B.iDGE. 



s'nield will be red, and will be worn under the regulation 

cross cannon." 

This order grew out of the difficulty experienced in 

obtaining the badge prescribed by General Burnside. 

The cannon, anchor, etc., were made of gold bullion at 

Tiffany's, New York City, and as it was scarcely practicable 

for the rank and file to obtain 

such badges, they had virtually 

anticipated the order of General 

Parke, and were • wearing the 

three plain colors after the man- 
ner of the rest of Potomac's 

army. The figures in the color- 
plate, however, are fashioned 

after the direction of General 

Burnside's order. The annexed 

cut is a fac-simile of one of the 

original metallic badges worn by 

a staff officer. This corps had a 
fourth division from April 19 to 
Nov. 29, 1864. 

The Tenth Corps badge Avas the 
trace of a four-bastion ed fort. It 
was adopted by General Orders 
No. 18 issued by Major-General 
D. B. Birney, July 25, 1864. 

The Eleventh and Twelfth Corps 
have alread}' been referred to, in 
General Hooker's circular. On 
the 18th of April, 1864, tliese two 
corps were consolidated to form the 
Twentieth Corps, and by General 
Orders No. 62 issued by Major- 
General George H. Thomas, April 

26, "a star, as heretofore worn by the Twelfth Corps," was 

prescribed as the badge. 




ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH 
CORPS BADGES COMBINED. 



262 UAIW TACK AND COFFEE. 

The annexed cut shows the manner in which many of the 
corps combined the two badges in order not to lose their 
original identity. 

The Thirteenth Corps had no badge. 

The badge of the Fourteenth Army Corps was an acorn. 
Tradition lias it that some time before the adoption of this 
badge the members of this corps called themselves Acorn 
Boi/s, because at one time in their history, probably wlien 
they were hemmed in at Chattanooga by Bragg, rations were 
so scanty that the men gladly gathered large quantities of 
acorns from an oak grove, near by which they were camped, 
and roasted and ate them, repeating this operation while the 
scarcity of food continued. Owing to this circumstance, 
when it became necessary to select a badge, the acorn 
suggested itself as an exceedingly appropriate emblem for 
that purpose, and it was therefore adopted by General 
Orders No. 62, issued from Headquarters Department of 
the Cumberland, at Chatta-nooga, April 26, 1864. 

The badge of the Fifteenth Corps derives its origin from 
the following incident: — During the fall of 1863 the 
Eleventh and Twelfth Corps were taken from Meade's army, 
put under tlie command of General Joe Hooker, and sent to 
aid in the relief of Chattanooga, where Thomas was closely 
besieged. They were undoubtedly better dressed than the 
soldiers of that department, and this fact, with the added 
circumstance of their wearing corps badges, which were a 
novelty to the Western armies at that time, led to some 
sharp tilts, in words, between the Eastern and Western sol- 
diers. One day a veteran of Hooker's command met an 
Irishman of Logan's Corps at the spring where they went 
to fill their canteens. "What corps do you belong to?" 
said the Eastern veteran, proud in the possession of the dis- 
tinguisliing badge on his cap, which told his story for him. 
'■'■ What corps, is it ? " said the gallant son of Erin, straight- 
ening liis back; ''the Fifteenth, to be sure." "Where is 
your badge ? " " My badge, do ye say ? There it is ! " said 



VOliFS AND CORPS BADGES. 



263 



Pat, cla2:)ping his liaiul ou Ins cartridge-box, at liis side ; 
'' forty rounds. Can you show nie a betther ? " 

On the 14th of February, 1865, Major-General John A. 
Logan, the commander of this corps, issued General Orders 
No. 10, whicli prescribe that the badge shall be "A minia- 
ture cartridge-box, one-eighth of an inch thick, fifteen- 
sixteenths of an inch wide, set transversely on a field of 
cloth or metal, one and five-eighths of an inch square. Above 
the cartridge-box phxte will be stamped or worked in a 
curve ' Forty Rounds.' " This corps had a fourth division, 
whose badge was yellow, and 
headquarters wore a badge in- 
cluding the four colors. Logan 
goes on to say : — 

" It is expected that this badge 
will be worn constantly by every 
officer and soldier in the corps. 
If any corps in the army lias a 
right to take pride in its badge, 
surely that has which looks back 
tlirouo'h the lom^ and o-lorious 
line of . . . [naming twenty-nine 

different battles], and scores of minor struggles ; the corps 
which had its birth under Grant and Sherman in the darker 
days of our struggle , the corps which will keep on strug- 
gling until the death of the Rebellion." 

The following correct description of the badge worn by 
the Sixteenth Army Corps is given by the assistant-inspector 
general of that corps, Colonel J. J. Lyon : — " The device is 
a circle with four Minie-balls, the points towards the centre, 
cut out of it.'" It was designed by Brevet Brigadier-General 
John Hough, the assistant adjutant-general of the corps, 
being selected out of many designs, submitted by Major- 
General A. J. Smith, the corps commander, and, in his 
honor, named the ''A. J. Smith Cross." It is easily distin- 
guished from the Maltese cross, in being bounded by curved 




FIRST AND FIFTH CORPS BADGES 
COMBINED. 



264 HAED TACK AND COFFEE. 

instead of straight lines. No order for its adoption was 
issued. 

The badge of the Seventeenth Corps, said to have been 
suggested by General M. F. Ford, and adopted in accord- 
ance with General Orders issued by his commander, Major- 
General Francis P. Blair, was an arrow. He says, " In its 
swiftness, in its surety of striking where wanted, and its 
desti'uctive powers, when so intended, it is probably as 
emblematical of this corps as any design that could be 
adopted." The order was issued at Goldsboro, N. C, March 
25, 1865. The order further provides that the arrow for 
divisions shall be two inches long, and for corps headquarters 
one and one-half inches long, and further requires the 
wagons and ambulances to be marked with the badge 
of their respective commands, the arrow being twelve inches 
long. 

A circular issued from the headquarters of the Eighteenth 
Army Corps June 7, 1864, and General Orders No. 108, 
from the same source, dated August 25, 1864, furnish all 
the information on record regarding the badge of this body. 
While both are quite lengthy in description and prescrip- 
tion, neither states what the special design v/as to be. It 
was, however, a cross with equi-foliate arms. The circular 
prescribed that this cross should be worn by general officers, 
suspended by a tri-colored ribbon from the left breast. 
Division commanders were to have a triangle in the centre 
of the badge, but brigade commanders were to have the 
number of their brigade instead ; line officers were to sus- 
pend their badges by ribbons of the color of their division; 
cavalry and artillery officers also were to have distinctive 
badges. The whole system was quite complex, and some- 
what expensive as well, as the badges were to be of metal 
and enamel in colors. Enlisted men were to wear the plain 
cross of cloth, sewed to their left breast. This order was 
issued by General W. F. Smith. 

General Orders 108 issued by General E. O. C. Ord 



SIXTEENTH CORPS. 



SEVENTEENTH CORPS. 




1ST DIV. 



O 



^^ 



2N° DIV 






3 R ° D I V. 
EIGHTEENTH CORPS. 






1ST DIV. 



2N9 DIV. 
NINETEENTH CORPS. 





3R° DIV. 



ISTDIV. 2N5DIV 3R°DI\; 

TWENTIETH CORPS. TWENTY-SECOND CORPS. 





TWENTY-THIRD CORPS. 






2N9DIV. 



3ReDIV. 



<iclNOoe BROS., Printers, bost 



CORPS AND CORPS BADGES. 265 

simplified the matter somewhat, requiring line-officers and 
enlisted men both to wear the plain cross the color of 
their respective divisions, and enlisted men were required to 
wear theirs on the front of the hat or top of the cap. 

By General Orders No. 11 issued by General Emory 
Nov. 17, 1864, the Nineteenth Corps adopted "a fan-leaved 
cross, with an octagonal centre." The First Division was to 
wear red, the Second blue, and the Third white — the excep- 
tion in the order of the colors which proved the rule. The 
badge of enlisted men was to be of cloth, two inches square, 
and worn on the side of the hat or top of the cap, although 
they were allowed to supply themselves with metallic badges 
of the prescribed color, if so minded. 

The Twenty-First Corps never adopted a badge. 

The Twenty-Second adopted (without orders) a badge 
quinquefarious in form, that is, opening into five parts, and 
having a circle in the centre. This was the corps which 
served in the defence of Washington. Its membership was 
constantly changing. 

The badge adopted by the Twenty-Third Corps (without 
General Orders) was a plain shield, differing somewhat in 
form from that of the Ninth Corps, with which it was for a 
time associated, and which led it to adopt a similar badge. 

The following General Order tells the story of the next 
Corps' badge : — 

Headqitarters Twexty-Fourth Army Corps, 

Before Richmond, Va., March 18, 1865. 
[General Orders No. 32.] 

By authority of the Major-General commanding the Army of the James, 
the Heart is adopted as tlie badge of the Twenty-Fourth Army Corps. 

The symbol selected is one which testifies our affectionate regard for all 
our brave comrades — alike the living and the dead — who have braved the 
perils of the mighty conflict, and our devotion to the sacred cause — a cause 
which entitles us to the sympathy of every brave and true heart and the 
support of every strong and determined hand. 

The Major-General commanding the Corps does not doubt that soldiers 
who have given their strength and blood to the fame of their former badges, 



266 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

will unite in rendering the present one even more renowned than those un- 
der which they have heretofore marched to battle. 

By command of Major-General John Gibbon. 

A. Henry Emblek, A. A. A. General. 

This corps was largely made up of re-enlisted men, who 
had served nine months or three years elsewhere. Here is 
another General Order which speaks for itself : — 

Headquarters Twenty-Fifth Army Corps, 

Army of the James, 

In the Field, Va., Feb. 20, 1865. 
[Orders.] 

In view of the circumstances under which this Corps was raised and filled, 
the peculiar claims of its individual members upon the justice and fair deal- 
ing of the prejudiced, and the regularity of the troops which deserve those 
equal rights that have been hitherto denied the majority, the Commanding 
General has been induced to adopt the Square as the distinctive badge of the 
Twenty-Fifth Army Corps. 

Wherever danger has been found and glory to be won, the heroes who 
have fought for immortality have been distinguished by some emblem to 
which every victory added a new lustre. They looked upon their badge with 
pride, for to it they had given its fame. In the homes of smiling peace it 
recalled the days of courageous endurance and the hours of deadly strife — 
and it solaced the moment of death, for it was a symbol of a life of heroism 
and self-denial. The poets still sing of the " Templar's Cross," the " Cres- 
cent " of the Turks, the "Chalice" of the hunted Christian, and the 
"White Plume" of Murat, that crested the wave of valor sweeping resist- 
lessly to victory. 

Soldiers! to you is given a chance in this Spring Campaign of making 
this badge immortal. Let History record that on the banks of the James 
thirty thousand freemen not only gained their own liberty but shattered the 
prejudice of the world, and gave to the Land of their birth Peace, Union, and 
Liberty. 

Godfrey Weitzei., 

Major-General Commanding. 
[Official.] 

W. L. Goodrich, 

A. A. A. General. 

This corps was composed wlioU}^ of colored troops. 
In the late fall of 1864, Major-Genei al W. S. Hancock re- 
signed his command of the Second Corps to take charge 



(JOEPIS AND COUPS BADGES. 267 

of the First Veteran Corps, then organizing. The badge 
adopted originated with Colonel C. H. Morgan, Hancock's 
chief-of-staff. 

The centre is a circle half the diameter of the whole de- 
sign, surrounded by a wreath of laurel. Through the circle 
a wide red band passes vertically. From the wreath radiate 
rays in such a manner as to form a heptagon with concave 
sides. Seven hands spring from the wreath, eacli grasping a 
spear, whose heads point the several angles of the heptagon. 
Sheridan's Cavalry Corps had a badge, but it was not 
generally worn. The device was " Gold crossed sabres on a 
blue field, surrounded by a glory in silver." 

The design of Wilson's Cavalry Corps was a carbine from 
which was suspended by chains a red, swallow-tail guidon, 
bearing gilt crossed sabres. 

The badge of the Engineer and Pontonier Corps is thus 
described : " Two oars crossed over an anchor, the top of 
which is encircled by a scroll surmounted by a castle ; the 
castle being the badge of the U. S. corps of engineers." As 
a fact, however, this fine body of men wore only the castle 
designed in brass. 

The badge of the Signal Corps was two flags crossed on 
the staff of a flaming torch. This badge is sometimes repre- 
sented with a red star in the centre of one flag, but such 
was not the typical badge. This star was allowed on the 
headquarters flag of a veri/ feiv signal officers, who were ac- 
corded this distinction for some meritorious service per- 
formed ; but such a flag was rarely seen, and should not 
be figured as part of the corps badge. 

The Department of West Virginia, under the command of 
General Crook, adopted a spread eagle for a badge, Jan. 
3, 1865. 

The pioneers of the army wore a pair of crossed hatchets, 
the color of the division to which they belonged. Then, the 
Army of the Cumberland have a society badge. So likewise 
have the Army of the Potomac, l^iere are also medals 



268 HARD TACK AND COFFEE, 

presented for distiiiguislied gallantry, worn by a few. They 
are not numerous and are seldom to be seen — for this 
reason, if for no other, they are of precious value to the 
owner, and are therefore carefully treasured. ■ 

In nearl}^ every corps whose badge I have referred to, the 
plan was adopted of having the first three divisions take the 
national colors of red, white, and blue respectively. These 
corps emblems were not only worn by the men, — I refer 
now to the Army of the Potomac, — but they were also 
painted with stencil on the transportation of a corps, its 
wagons and ambulances. And just here I may add that 
there was no army which became so devotedly attached to 
its badges as did the Army of the Potomac. There were 
reasons for this. The}^ were the first to adopt them, being 
at least a year ahead of all other corps, and more than two 
years ahead of many. Then, by their use they were brought 
into sharper comparison in action and on the march, and, as 
General Weitzel says, " they looked upon their badge with 
pride, for to it they had given its fame." 

These badges can be seen in any parade of the Grand 
Army, worn on the cap or hat, possibly now and then one 
that has seen service. I still have such a one in my pos- 
session. But at the close of the war many of the veterans 
desired some more enduring form of these emblems, so 
familiar and full of meaning to them, and so to-day they 
wear pinned to the breast or suspended from a ribbon the 
dear old corps badge, modelled in silver or gold, perhaps 
bearing the division colors indicated, in enamel or stone, and 
some of them inscribed with the list of battles in which the 
bearer participated. What is such a jewel worth to the 
wearer? I can safely say that, while its intrinsic value may 
be a mere trifle, not all the wealth of an Astor and a Van- 
derbilt combined could purchase the experience which it 
records, were such a transfer otherwise possible. 



1ST D 1 V. 



TWENTY-FOURTH CORPS 





2. NPOIV. 
TWENTY-FIFTH CORPS. 



3R? Dl V. 





1ST D I V. 

Wilson's Cavalry 



2 Ni= D I V. 

Signal Corps. 



3 R? D ' 

Engineer Corps. 




1ST Dl V. 



aN^DIV. 



3 R-l-' Dl V. 



MCINOOE BROS., Printers, Boston 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SOME INVENTIONS AND DEVICES OF THE WAR. 




A TORPEDO. 



^ HAT " necessity is the mother of 
invention " nothing can more 
clearly and fully demonstrate 
than war. I will devote this 
chapter to presenting some facts 
from the last war which illus- 
trate this maxim. As soon as 
J u -t^ the tocsin of war had sounded, 

'^^^P K '-^"^ ^^^^^ ™®'^ ^^^^'^ summoned to 

' take the field, a demand was 

at once made, on both sides of 
Mason and Dixon's line, for a 
new class of materials — the materials of war, for which 
there had been no demand of consequence for nearly 
fifty years. The arms, such as they were, had been 
largely sent South before the outbreak. But they were 
somewhat old-fashioned, and, now that there was a demand 
for new arms, inventive genius was stimulated to produce 
better ones. It always has been true, and always will 
be, that the manufactured products for which there is an 
extensive demand are the articles which invention will 
improve upon until they arrive as near perfection as it is 
possible for the work of human hands to be. Such was the 
case with the materials of warfare. Invention was stimu- 
lated in various directions, but its products appeared most 
numerous, perhaps, in the changes which the arms, ammuni- 
tion, and ordnance underwent in their better adaptation to 

the needs of the hour. 

269 



270 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

The few muskets remaining in the hands of tlie govern- 
ment in 1861 were used to equip the troops who left first 
for the seat of war. Then manufacturing began on an 
immense scale. The government workshops could not pro- 
duce a tithe of what were wanted, even though running 
night and day; and so private enterprise was called in to 
supplement the need. As one illustration, Grover & Baker 
of Roxbury turned their extensive sewing-machine work- 
shop into a rifle-manufactory, which employed several 
hundred hands, and this was only one of a large number in 
that section. Alger, of South Boston, poured the immense 
molten masses of his cupolas into the moulds of cannon, and 
his massive steam-hammers pounded out and welded the 
ponderous shafts of gunboats and monitors. The descen- 
dants of Paul Revere diverted a part of their yellow metal 
from the mills which rolled it into sheathing for govern- 
ment ships, to the founding of brass twelve-pounders, or 
Napoleons, as they were called ; and many a Rebel was laid 
low by shrapnel or canister hurled through the muzzle of 
guns on which was plainly stamped "Revere Copper Co., 
Canton, Mass." Plain smooth-bore Springfield muskets 
soon became Springfield rifles, and directly the process 
of rifling was applied to cannon of various calibres. Then, 
muzzle-loading rifles became breech-loading ; and from a 
breech-loader for a single cartridge the capacity was in- 
creased, until some of the cavalry regiments that took the 
field in 1864 went equipped with Henry's sixteen-shooters, 
a breech-loading rifle, which the Rebels said the Yanks 
loaded in the morning and fired all day. 

I met at Chattanooga, Tenn., recently, Captain Fort, of 
the old First Georgia Regulars, a Confederate regiment of 
distinguished service. In referring to these repeating rifles, 
he said that his first encounter with them was near Olustee, 
Fla. While he was skirmishing with a Massachusetts regi- 
ment (the Fortieth), he found them hard to move, as they 
seemed to load with marvellous speed, and never to have their 



SOME INVE.XTIONS AND DEVICES OF THE WAE. 271 

fire drawn. Determined to see what sort of fire-arms were 
opposed to him, he ordered his men to concentrate their fire 
on a single skirmisher. Tliey did so and laid him low, and 
afterwards secured his repeating rifle — I think a Spencer's 
seven or eight shooter — which they carried along, as a great 
curiosity, for some time afterward. 

In the navy Invention made equally rapid strides. When 
the war broke out, the available vessels were mainly a few 
ships-of-the-line, frigates and screw steamers; but these 
could be of little service in such a warfare as was evidently 
on hand, a warfare which must be carried on in rivers, and 




A GUNBOAT. 



bays, and coastwise generally, where such clumsy and deep- 
draught vessels could not be used. So sloops-of-war, gun- 
boats, mortar-boats, double-enders, and iron-clads came to the 
front, and the larger old-fashioned craft were used mainly 
as receiving ships. But with the increase in range and 
calibre of naval armament came a seeking by Invention for 
something less vulnerable to their power, and after the en- 
counter of the little " Yankee Cheese Box," so called, and the 
Rebel Ram " Virginia," the question of what should consti- 
tute the main reliance of the navy was definitely settled, and 
monitors became the idols of the hour. These facts are all 
matters of well written history, and I refer to them now 
only to illustrate the truth of the maxim with which I began 
the chapter. 



272 



HAED TACK AND COFFEE. 



I wish now to give it still further emphasis by citing some 
illustrations which the historian has neglected, for "nobler 
game." Some of the inventions which I shall refer to were 
impractical, and had only a brief existence. Of course your 
small inventor and would-be benefactor to his kind, clearly 
foresaw that men who were about to cut loose from the 
amenities of civil life would be likely to spend money freely 
in providing themselves before their departure with every- 




A MORTAR BOAT. 



thing portable that might have a tendency to ameliorate tue 
condition of soldier life. With an eye single to this idea 
these inventors took the field. 

One of the first products of their genius which I r'ecall 
was a combination knife-forJc-and-spoon arrangement, which 
was peddled through the state camping-grounds in great 
numbers and variety. Of course every man must have one. 
So mnch convenience in so small a compass must be taken 
advantage of. It was a sort of soldier's trinity, which they all 
thought that they understood and appreciated. But I doubt 



SOME INVENTIONS AND DEVICES OF THE WAE. 273 

whether this invention, on the average, ever got beyond the 
first camp in active service. 

I still have in my possession the remnants of a water- 
filterer in which I invested after enlistment. There was a 
metallic n^outh-piece at one end of a small gutta-percha 
tube, which latter was about fifteen inches long. At the 
other end of the tube was a suction-chamber, an inch long 
by a half-inch in diameter, with the end perforated, and con- 
taining a piece of booking as a filter. Midway of the 
tubing was an air-chamber. The tubing long since dried 



=§§!N* 






^i^?:^. 




A DOUBLE-TURRETED MONITOR. 



and crumbled away from the metal. It is possible that I 
used this instrument half a dozen times, though I do not 
recall a single instance, and on breaking camp just before 
the Gettysburg Campaign, I sent it, with some other effects, 
northward. 

I remember another filterer, somewhat simpler. It con- 
sisted of the same kind of mouth-piece, with rubber tubing 
attached to a small conical piece of pumice-stone, through 
which the water was filtered. Neither of these was ever of 
any practical value. 

I have spoken of the rapid improvements made in arms. 
This improvement extended to all classes of fire-arms alike. 
Revolvers were no exception, and Coifs revolver, which 
monopolize<l the field for some time, was soon crowded in 
the race by Smitlt and TFtJS.s-ow, Remington, and others. 
Thousands of them were sold mbnthlv, and the newly 



274 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

fledged soldier who did not possess a revolver, either by 
his own purchase, or as a present from solicitous rehitives, 
or admiring friends, or enthusiastic business associates, was 
something of a curiosity. Of course a present of this kind 
necessitated an outfit of special ammunition, and such was at 
once procured. But the personal armory of many heroes was 
not even then complete, and a dirk knife — a real " Arkan- 
saw toothpick" — was no unusual sight to be seen hanging 
from the belt of some of the incipient but blood-thirsty 
warriors. The little town of Ashby in Massachusetts, at one 
of its earliest war-meetings, voted " that each volunteer 
shall be provided with a revolver, a bowie-knife, and a 
Bible, and shall also receive ten dollars in money." The 
thought did not appear to find lodgement in the brain of the 
average soldier or his friends that by the time the govern- 
ment had provided him with what arms, ammunition, and 
equipments it was thought necessary for him to have, he would 
then be loaded with about all he could bear, without adding 
a personal armory and magazine. Nor did he realize that 
which afterwards in his experience must have come upon 
him with convincing force, that by the time he liad 
done his duty faithfully and well with the arms which 
the government had placed in his hands there would 
be little opportunity or need, even if his ambition still 
held out, to fall back on his personal arsenal for further 
supplies. Members of the later regiments got their eyes 
open to this fact either through correspondence with men 
at the front, or by having been associated with others 
who had seen service. But the troops of '61 and '62 
took out hundreds of revolvers only to lose them, give 
them away, or throw them away ; and as many regi- 
ments were forbidden by their colonels to wear them, a 
larsre number were sent back to the North. Revolvers were 
probably cheaper in Virginia, in those years, than in any 
other state in the Union. 

There was another invention that must liave been suffi- 



SOME INVENTIONS AND DEVICES OF THE WAR. 275 

ciently popular to have paid the manufacturer a fair rate on 
his investment, and that was the steel-armor enterprise. 
There were a good many men who were anxious to be 
heroes, but they were particular. They preferred to be Uve 
heroes. They were willing to go to war and fight as never 
man fought before, if they could only be insured against 
bodily harm. They were not willing to assume all the risks 
which an enlistment involved, without securing; somethino' 
in the shape of a drawback. Well, the iron tailors saw and 
appreciated the situation and sufferings of this class of men, 
and came to the rescue with a vest of steel armor, worth, as 
I remember it, about a dozen dollars, and greaves. The 
latter, I think, did not find so ready a market as the vests, 
which were comparatively common. These iron-clad war- 
riors admitted that when panoplied for the fight their sensa- 
tions were much as they might be if the}' were dressed up 
in an old-fashioned air-tight stove ; still, with all the dis- 
comforts of this casing, they felt a little safer with it on 
than off in battle, and they reasoned that it was the right 
and duty of every man to adopt all honorable measures to 
assure his safety in the line of duty. This seemed solid 
reasoning, surely ; but, in spite of it all, a large number of 
these vests never saw Rebeldom. Their owners were sub- 
jected to such a storm of ridicule that they could not bear 
up under it. It was a stale yet common joke to remind 
them that in action these vests must be worn behind. Then, 
too, the ownership of one of them was taken as evidence 
of faint-heartedness. Of this the owner was often re- 
minded ; so that when it came to the packing of the knap- 
sack for departure, the vest, taking as it did considerable 
space, and adding no small weight to his already too heavy 
burden, was in many cases left behind. The officers, whose 
opportunit}^ to take baggage along was greater, clung to 
them longest; but I think that they were quite generally 
abandoned with the first important reduction made in the 
luggage. 



276 



HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 




A HAVELOCK. 



One of the first supposed-to-be useful, if not ornamental 
stupidities, which some of the earlier troops took to them- 
selves by order, was the Havelock. True, its invention ante- 
dated the time of which I speak. It was a foreign concep- 
tion, and derived its name from an English general who 
distinguished himself in the war in India, 
where they were worn in 1857. It was a 
simple covering of white linen for the cap, 
with a cape depending for the protection 
of tlie neck from the sun. They may have 
been very essential to the comfort of the 
troops in the Eastern climate, but, while 
whole regiments went South with them, if 
one of these articles survived active service 
three montlis I have yet to hear of it. 

Then there were fancy patent-leather 
haversacks, with two or three compart- 
ments for the assortment of rations, which Uncle Sam was 
expected to furnish. But those who invested in them were 
somewhat disgusted at a little later stage of their service, when 

they were ordered to throw 
away all such " high-toned " 
trappings and adopt the regu- 
lation pattern of painted cloth. 
This was a bag about a foot 
sqnare, with a broad strap for 
the shoulder, into which sol- 
diers soon learned to bundle 
all their food and table fur- 
niture, which, I think I have 
elsewhere stated, after a day's 
hard march were always found in such a delightful hodge- 
podge. 

Now and then an invention was to be found which was a 
real convenience. I still have in my possession such a one, 
an article which, when not in use, is a compact roll eight and 




A IIAVEKSAOK AND DIPPER. 



SOME INVENTIONS AND DEVICES OF THE WAR. O^J^J 



oiie-lialf inches long and two inclies in diameter, and de- 
signed to hold pens, ink, and paper. Unrolled, it makes a 
little tablet of the length given and five and one-half inches 
wide, which was my writing-desk when no better was to be 
had. 

The Turkish fez, with pendent tassel, was seen on the 
heads of some soldiers. Zouave regiments wore them. They 
did very well to lie around camp 
in, and in a degree marked their 
owner as a somewhat conspicuous 
man among his fellows, but they 
were not tolerated on line ; few of 
them ever survived the first three 
months' campaigning. 

And this recalls the large number 
of the soldiers of '62 who did not 
wear the forage cap furnished by 
the government. They bought the 
*' McClellan cap," so called, at the 
hatters' instead, which in most cases 
faded out in a month. This tlie 
government caps did not do, with all 
their awkward appearance. They 
may have been coarse and unfashion- 
able to the eye, but the colors would stand. Nearly every 
man embellished his cap with the number or letter of his 
company and regiment and the appropriate emblem. For 
infantry this emblem is a bugle, for artillery t\Vo crossed 
cannons, and for cavalry two crossed sabres. 

One other item occurs to me, not entirely germane to the 
chapter, yet interesting enough to warrant its insertion. 
This was the great care exercised to have all equipments 
prominently marked with the regiment, company, and State 
to which the owner belonged. For example, on the back of 
the knapsack of every man in a regiment appeared in large 
lettering something like this: Co. B, 33d New York Regi- 




A ZOUAVE. 



278 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

ment ; or, if it was light artillery, this, 10th Mass. Battery. 
Nor did the advertising stop here, for the haversacks and 
canteens were often similarly labelled, and yet, at the time, it 
seemed necessary to somebody that it should be done. At 
any rate, nobody found any fault with it ; and if it had been 
thought desirable that each article of apparel should be simi- 
larly placarded, there would have been a general acquies- 
cence on the part of the untutored citizen soldiery, who were 
in the best of humor, and with Pope (Alexander not John) 
seemed to agree that " Whatever is is right." But how 
many of these loudly marked equipments survived the 
strife? Perhaps not one. The knajosack may have been 
thrown aside in the first battle, and a simple roll composed 
of the woollen and rubber blanket substituted for it. The 
haversacks and canteens were soon lost, and new ones took 
their place ; and they lasted just as long and were just as 
safe as if consjiicuonsly marked. One of the comical sights 
of the service was to see Rebel prisoners brought in liaving 
strapped on their backs knapsacks bearing just such label- 
ling as that which I have quoted. Of course, these Avere 
trophies which they had either taken from prisoners or had 
picked up on some battlefield or in the wake of the Union 
army, and appropriated to their own use. 

Light-artillerymen went to the front decorated with brass 
scales on their shoulders, but, finding an utter absence of 
such ornaments on the persons of soldiers who had been in 
action, and feeling sensitive about being known as recruits, 
these decorations soon disappeared. Theoretically, they 
were worn to ward off the blows of a sabre aimed by caval- 
rymen at the head ; practically, it is doubtful whether they 
ever served such a purpose. 



A SoKNCE.H Rl^LK 




CHAPTER XV, 



THE ARMY MULE. 



'Two teamsters have paused, in the shade of the pool, 
Kehearsing the tricks of the old army mule ; 

They have little to say 

Of the hlue and the gray, 
"Which they wore when the garments meant shedding of blood — 
They're discussing the mule and ' Virginia mud.' " 

T has often been said that the South 
could not have been worsted in the 
Rebellion had it not been for 
the steady re-enforcement 
brought to the Union side 
by the mule. To just what 
extent his services hastened 
the desired end, it would be impossible 
to compute ; but it is admitted by both 
parties to the war that they were in- 
valuable. 

It may not be generally known 
that Kentucky is the chief mule-pro- 
ducing State of the Union, with Mis- 
souri next, while St. Louis is perhaps the best mule-market in 
the world; but the entire South-west does something at mule- 
raising. Mules vary more in size than horses. The largest 
and best come from Kentucky. The smaller ones are the 
result of a cross with the Mexican mustang. These were 
also extensively used. General Grant says, in his Memoirs 
(vol. 1. p. 69), that while Taylor's army was at Matamoras, 
contracts were made for mules, between American traders 
and Mexican smugglers, at from eight to eleven dollars 

279 




280 



HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 



each. But the main source of supply for the Western 
States, where they are very generally used, for the South, and 
for the government, during war time, was Kentuck3^ When 
the war ))roke out, efforts were made by Governor Magoffin 
of that State — or rather by the Legislature, for the Governor 
was in full sympathy with the Rebels — to have that com- 
monwealth remain neutral. For this reason when the 
general government attempted to purchase mules tliere in 
1861, they were refused ; but in tlie course of a few weeks 
the neutrality nonsense was pretty thoroughly knocked out 
of the authorities, Kentucky took its stand on the side of the 




A SIX-JIULE TEAM. 



Union, and the United States government began and contin- 
ued its purchase of mules there in increasing numbers till 
the close of the war. 

What were these mules used for ? Well, I have related 
elsewhere that, when the war broke out, thousands of 
soldiers came pouring into Washington for its defence, and 
afterwards went by thousands into other sections of Rebel- 
dom. To supply these soldiers with the necessary rations, 
forage, and camp equipage, and keep them supplied, thou- 
sands of wagons were necessary. Some of the regiments 
took these wagons with them from their native State, but 
most did not. Some of the wagons were drawn by mules 
already owned by the government, and more mules were 
purchased from time to time. The great advantage pos- 
sessed by these animals over horses was not at that period 



THE ARMY MULE. 



281 



full}^ appreciated, so that horses were also used in large 
numbers. But the magnitude of the Rebellion grew apace. 
Regiments of cavalry, each requiring twelve hundred horses, 
and. light batteries one hundred and ten, were now rapidly 
organizing, calling for an abundance of horse-flesh. Then, 
disease, exposure, and hard usage consumed a great many 
more, so that these animals naturally grew scarcer as the 
demand increased. For certain kinds of work horses must 
be had, mules would not do. The horse was good for any 
kind of service, as a beast of burden, up to the limits of his 
endurance. Not so his half-brother the mule. The latter 
was more particular as to the kind of service he performed. 




A MULE EATING AN OVERCOAT. 



Like a great many bipeds that entered the army, he preferred 
to do military duty in the safe rear. As a consequence, if 
he found himself under fire at the front, he was wont to make 
a stir in his neighborhood until he got out of such inhospi- 
table surroundings. 

This nervousness totally unfitted him for artillery or 
cavalry service ; he must therefore be made available for 
draft in the trains, the ammunition and forage trains, the 
supply and bridge trains. So, as rapidly as it could con- 
veniently be done, mules took the place of horses in all the 
trains, six mules replacing four horses. 



282 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

Aside from this nervousness under fire, nuiles have a great 
advantage over horses in being better able to stand hard 
usage, bad feed, or no feed, and neglect generally. They 
can travel over rough ground unharmed where horses would 
be lamed or injured in some way. They will eat brush, and 
not be very hungry to do it, either. When forage was short, 
the drivers were wont to cut branches and throw before 
them for their refreshment. One m. d. (mule driver) tells 
of having his army overcoat partly eaten by one of his team 
— actually chewed and swallowed. The operation made 
the driver blue, if the diet did not thus affect the mule. 

In organizing a six-mule team, a large pair of heavy ani- 
mals were selected for the pole, a smaller size for the swing, 
and a still smaller pair for leaders. There were advantages 
in this arrangement ; in the first place, in going through a 
miry spot the small leaders soon place themselves, by their 
quick movements, on firm footing, where they can take hoM 
and pull the pole mules out of the wallow. Again, 
with a good heavy steady pair of wheel mules, the driver 
can restrain the smaller ones that are more apt to be frisky 
and reckless at times, and, assisted by the brake, hold back 
his loaded wagon in descending a hill. Then, there was 
more elasticity in such a team when well trained, and a 
good driver could handle them much more gracefully and 
dexterously than he could the same number of horses. 

It was really wonderful to see some of the experts drive 
these teams. The driver rides the near pole mule, holding in 
his left hand a single rein. This connects with the bits of 
the near lead mule. By pulling this rein, of course the 
brutes would go to the left. To direct them to the right 
one or more short jerks of it were given, accompanied by a 
sort of gibberish which the mule-drivers acquired in the 
business. The bits of the lead mules being connected by an 
iron bar, whatever movement was made by the near one 
directed the movements of the off one. The pole mules 
were controlled by short reins which hung over their necks. 






THE AliMY MULE. 283 

The driver carried in his right hand his black snake, that is, 
his black leather whip, which was used with much effect on 
occasion. 

When mules were brought to the army they were enclosed 
in what was called a corral. To this place the driver in 
quest of a mule must repair to make and take his selection, 
having the proper authority to do 
so. I will illustrate how it was 
done. Here is a figure representing 
a corral, having on the inside a fence 
running from A to C. AD and BE 
are pairs of bars. The driver enters 
the yard, mounted, and, having se- 
lected the mule he wants, drives him ^ cokrm 
toward BE. The bars at AD be- 
ing up, and those at BE being down, the mule advances 
and the bars BE are put up behind him. He is now 
enclosed in the small space indicated by ABDE. The 
mule-driver then mounts the fence, bridles the brute of 
his choice, lets down the bars at AD, and takes him out. 
Why does he bridle him from the fence ? Well, because 
the mule is an uncertain animal. 

In making his selection the driver did not always draw a 
prize. Sometimes his mule would be kind and tractable, 
and sometimes not. Of course he would saddle him, and 
start to ride him to camp ; but the mule is not always docile 
under the saddle. He too often has a mind of his own. 
He may go along all right, or, if he is tricky, he may sud- 
denly pause, bracing his forefeet and settling down on his 
hind ones, as if he had suddenly happened to think of the 
girl he left behind him, and was debating whether or not to 
go back after her. It is when the mule strikes such an atti- 
tude as this, I suppose, that Josh Billings calls him " a stub- 
born fact." But the driver ! Well, if at that moment he 
was off Ills guard, he would get off without previous prep- 
aration, as a man sometimes sits down on ice, and look at 



284 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



the mule. If, however, he was on the alert, and well pre- 
pared, the mule, in the end, would generally come off second 
best. I have referred to the Black Snake. It was the badge 
of authority with which the mule-driver enforced his orders. 
It was the panacea for all the ills to which mule-flesh was 
heir. It was a common sisjlit to see a six-mule team, when 




DISMOUNTED. 



left to itself, get into an entanglement, seeming inextricably 
mixed, unless it was unharnessed ; but the appearance of the 
driver with his black wand would change the scene as if by 
magic. As the heel-cord of Achilles was his only vulnerable 
part, so the ears of the mule seemed to be the development 
through which his reasoning faculties could be the most 
quickly and surely reached, and one or two cracks of the 
whip on or near these little monuments, accompanied by the 
driver's very expressive ejaculation in the mule tongue, 
which I can only describe as a kind of cross between an 
unearthly screech and a groan, had the effect to disentangle 
them unaided, and make them stand as if at a " present " to 
their master. When off duty in camp, they were usually 
hitched to the pole of their wagon, three on either side, and 
here, between meals, they were often as antic as kittens or 
puppies at play, leaping from one side of the pole to the 



THE ARMY MULE. 



285 



other, lying down, tumbling over, and biting each other, 
until perhaj^s all six would be an apparently confused heap 
of mule. If the driver appeared at such a crisis with his 
black " ear-trumpet," one second was long enough to dis- 
solve the pile into its original mule atoms, and arrange them 
again on either side of the pole, looking as orderly and inno- 
cent as if on inspection. 

An educated mule-driver was, in his little sphere, as com- 
petent a disciplinarian as the colonel of a regiment. Nor 




OATS FOR SIX. 



did he always secure the prompt and exact obedience above 
described by applications of the Black Snake alone, or even 
when accompanied by tlie sternest objurgations delivered in 
the mule dialect. He was a terror to his subjects in yet 
another way : and old soldiers will sustain me in the asser- 
tion that the propulsive power of the mule-driver was 
increased many fold by the almost unlimited stock of pro- 
fanity with which he greeted the sensitive ears of his mule- 
ship when the latter was stubborn. I have seen mules, but 
now most obdurate, jump into their collars the next moment 



286 HA ED TACK AND COFFEE. 

with the utmost determination to do their whole duty when 
one of these Gatling guns of curses opened fire upon them. 
Some reader may prefer to adjudge as a reason for this good 
behavior the fear of the Black Snake, which was likely to 
be applied close upon the volley of oaths ; but I prefer to 
assign as a motive the mule's interest in the advancement of 
good morals. 

In all seriousness, however, dealing only with the fact, 
without attempting to prove or deny justification for it, it 
is undoubtedly true that the mule-drivers, when duly 
aroused, could produce a deeper cerulean tint in the sur- 
rounding atmosphere than any other class of men in the 
service. The theory has been advanced that if all of these 
professional m. d.'s in the trains of the Army of the Poto- 
mac could have been put into the trenches around Peters- 
burg and Richmond, in the fall of 1864, and have been 
safely advanced to within ear-shot of the enemy, then, at a 
signal, set to swearing simultaneously at their level-worst, 
the Rebels would either have thrown down their arms and 
surrendered then and there, or have fled incontinently to 
the fastnesses of the Blue Ridge. There may have been 
devout mule-drivers in Sherman's army, but I never saw one 
east. They may have been pious on taking up this impor- 
tant work. They were certainly impious before laying it 
down. Nevertheless, in these later days, when they are 
living better lives, any twinge of conscience which they 
may occasionally feel must be relieved by the knowledge 
that General Grant has given them credit for being able to 
swear a mule-team out of the mud when it could not be 
moved by any other process. 

I have stated that the mule was uncertain ; I mean as to 
his intentions. He cannot be trusted even when appearing 
honest and affectionate. His reputation as a kicker is world- 
wide. He was the Mugwump of the service. The mule 
that will not kick is a curiosity. A veteran relates how, 
after the battle of Antietam, he saw a colored mule-driver 



THE ARMY MULE. 287 

approach his mules that were standing unhitched from the 
wagons, when, pi'esto I one of them knocked him to tlie 
ground in a twinkling with one of those unexpected instan- 
taneous kicks, for which the mule is peerless. Slowly pick- 
ing himself up, the negro walked deliberately to his wagon, 
took out a long stake the size of his arm, returned with the 
same moderate pace to his muleship, dealt him a stunning 
blow on the head with the stake, which felled him to the 
ground. The stake was returned with the same delibera- 
tion. The mule lay quiet for a moment, then arose, shook 
his head, a truce was declared, and driver and mule were at 
peace and understood each other. 

Here is another illustration of misplaced confidence. On 
the road to Harper's Ferry, after the Antietam campaign in 
1862, the colored cook of the headquarters of the Sixtieth 
New York Regiment picked up a large and respectable look- 
ing mule, to whom, with a cook's usual foresight and ambi- 
tion, he attached all the paraphernalia of the cook-house 
together with his own personal ' belongings, and settled 
himself down proudly on his back among them. All went 
on serenely for a time, the mule apparently accepting the 
situation with composure, until the Potomac was reached at 
Harper's Ferry. On arriving in the middle of the pontoon 
bridge upon which the army was crossing, from some unex- 
plained reason — perhaps because, on looking into the water, 
he saw himself as others saw him — the mule lifted up his 
voice in one of those soul-harrowing brays, for which he is 
famous — or /wfamous — and, lifting his hind legs aloft, in 
the next moment tossed his entire burden of cook and cook- 
house into the river, where, weighted down with mess- 
kettles and other utensils of his craft, the cook must have 
drowned had not members of the regiment come to his 
rescue. Not at all daunted by this experience, the cookey 
harnessed the mule again as before, led him across the 
remaining portion of the bridge, where he remounted and 
settled himself among his household goods once more, where 



288 



HAT^D TACK AND COFFEE. 



all was well till the Shenandoah was reached. Here, with 
another premonitory blast of his nasal trumpet, the mule 
once more dum})ed his load into the rapid rolling river, 




DU>rPED INTO THK P0TO:\IAC. 



when the cook lost all confidence in mules as beasts of 
burden, and abandoned him. 

Josh Billings says somewhere that if he had a mule who 
would neither kick nor bite he would watch him dreadful 
" cluss " till he found out where his malice did lay. This 
same humorist must have had some experience with the 
mule, for he has said some very bright and pat things 
concerning him. Here are a few that I recall : — 

"To break a mule — begin at his head." 

"To find the solid contents of a mule's hind leg, feel of it 
clussly." 

" The man who w^ont believe anything he kant see aint so 
wise az a mule, for they will kick at a thing in the dark." 

" The only thing which makes a mule so highly respectable 
is the great accuracy of his kicking." 

"The mule is a sure-footed animal. I have known 



THE ARMY MULE. 289 

him to kick a man fifteen feet off ten times in a 
second." 

These are a few samples, most all of which have reference to 
his great ability as a kicker. Unquestionably he had no equal 
in this field of amusement — to him. His legs were small, 
his feet were small, but his ambition in this direction was 
large. He could kick with wonderful accuracy, as a matter 
of fact. Mule-drivers tell me he could kick a fly off his ear, 
as he walked along in the team, with unerring accuracy. 
This being so, of course larger objects were never missed 
when they were within range. But the distance included 
within a mule's range had often to be decided by two or 
three expensive tests. One driver, whom I well knew, was 
knocked over with a mule's hind foot wliile standing 
directly in front of him. This shows something of their 
range. 

I have remarked, in substance, that the mule was con- 
quered only by laying hold of or striking his ears. It may be 
asked how he was shod if he was such a kicker. To do 
this, one of two methods was adopted; either to sling him 
up as oxen are slung, then strap his feet ; or walk him 
into a noose, and cast him, by drawing it around his legs. 
Of course, he would struggle violently for a while, but when 
he gave in it was all over for that occasion, and he was as 
docile under the smith's hands as a kitten. Being surer- 
footed and more agile than a horse, of course he gets into 
fewer bad places or entanglements; but once in, and having 
made a desperate struggle for his relief, and failing, he seems 
utterly discouraged, and neither whip nor persuasion can 
move him. Then, as in the shoeing, the driver can handle 
him with the utmost disregard of heels ; but when once on 
his feet again, stand aside ! He has a short memory. He 
lives in the future, and his heels are in business, as usual, 
at the old stand. 

I need not comment on the size of the mule's ears. Of 
course, everybody who has seen them knows them to be abnor- 



290 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



mal in size. But disproportionately large though they may be, 
there is one other organ in his possession which surpasses 
them ; that is his voice. This is something simply tremen- 
dous. That place which the guinea-fowl occupies among 
the feathered bipeds of the barn-yard in this respect, the 
mule holds faeile princeps &.mong the domestic quadrupeds. 
The poets who lived in the same time with Pericles said of 
the latter that "he lightened, thundered, and agitated all 
Greece," so powerful was his eloquence. So, likewise, when 




THE REAR GUARD OF THE RK(;IMKNT. 



the mule raised his voice, all opposition was silent before 
him, for nothing short of rattling, crashing thunder, as it 
seemed, could successfully compete for precedence with him. 
In addition to his great usefulness in the train, he was 
used a good deal under a pack-saddle. Each regiment 
usually had one, that brought up the rear on the march, 
loaded with the implements of the cook-house — sometimes 
with nothing to be seen but head and tail, so completely 
was he covered in. They were generally convoyed by a 
colored man. Sometimes these strong-minded creatures, in 
crossing a stream, would decide to lie down, all encumbered 
as they were, right in the middle, and down they would 
settle in spite of the ludicrous opposition and pathetic pro- 



THE ARMY MULE. 291 

tests of the convoy. Of course, it was no balm to his wound 
to have the passing column of soldiers keep up a running 
fire'of banter. But there was no redress or relief to be had 
until his muleship got ready to move, which was generally 
after every ounce of his burden had been stripped oif and 
placed on terra firma. 

Wlien the army was lying in line of battle in such close 
proximity to the enemy that the ammunition wagons could 
not safely approach it, two boxes were taken and strapped 
on a mule, one on each side, "to keep his balance true," and 
thus the troops were supplied when needed. 

At the terrible battle of Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864, a 
steady line of pack-mules, loaded with ammunition, filed up 
the open ravine, opposite the captured salient, for nearly 
twenty hours, in that way supplying our forces, who were so 
hotly engaged there. 

Rations were furnished in the same manner under similar 
circumstances. But now and then a mule would lie down 
under his burden, and refuse to budge. 

Grant says (vol. i. p. 106) : " I am not aware of ever 
having used a profane expletive in my life, but I would 
have the charity to excuse those who may have done so if 
they were in charge of a train of Mexican pack-mules 
at the time," alluding to an experience in the Mexican 
War. 

I believe I have stated that the mule much preferred to 
do military duty in the safe rear; but if there was anything 
which the war proved with the utmost clearness to both 
Yanks and Rebs, it was that there was surely no safe rear. 
This being so, the vivacious mule did not always have a 
plain and peaceful pilgrimage as a member of the wagon- 
train. I vividly recall the enjoyment of my company, 
during Lee's final retreat, whenever our guns were unlim- 
bered, as they were again and again, to be trained on the 
columns of retreating wagon-trains. The explosion of a 
shell or two over or among them would drive the long-ears 



292 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



wild, and render them utterly unmanageable, and the 
driver's best and often his onli/ recourse was to let them go 
if there was room ahead. But one demoralized, disorganized 
six-mule team would sometimes so effectively block the way, 
when the road was narrow, and the pursuit close, as to cause 
the capture of that part of the train behind it. Were any 
ex-Johnny m. d. to read this chuckling over the misfortunes 
of his craft, and not quite appreciate my enjoyment, I 




MtTLES LOADED WITH AMMUNITION. 



should at once assure him that there are some Yank m. 
d.'s who can heartily sympathize with him, having had a 
like experience. 

From what I have stated, it will be seen that the mule 
would be very unreliable in cavalry service, for in action he 
would be so wild that if he did not dismount his rider he would 
carry even the most valiant from the scene of conflict, or, 
what was just as likel}^ rush madly into the ranks of the 
enemy. The same observations would suit equally well as 
objections to his service with artillery. On the 5th of 
April, 1865, during the retreat of Lee, we came upon a 
batch of wagons and a battery of steel guns, of the Arm- 



THE ARMY AtULE. 293 

strong pattern, I think, which Sheridan's troopers had cut 
out of the enemy's retreating trains. The guns had appar- 
ently never been used since their arrival from England. 
The harnesses were of russet leather and equally new ; 
but the battery was drawn by a sorry-looking lot of horses 
and mules, indiscriminately mingled. My explanation for 
finding the mules thus tackled was that horses were scarce, 
and that it was not expected to use the guns at present, bat 
simply to get them off safely; but that if it became necessary 
to use them they could do so with comparative safety to the 
mules as the guns were of very long range. 

I should have pronounced these })articular mules safe any- 
where, even under a hot fire, if extreme emaciation had been 
a sure index of departed strength and nerve in this variety 
of brute. But that is not mule at all. The next day, at 
Sailor's Creek, my corps (Second), after a short, sharp con- 
test, made a capture of thirteen flags, three guns, thirteen 
hundred prisoners, and over two hundred army wagons, with 
their mules. And such mules ! the skinniest and boniest 
animals that I ever saw still retaining life, I sincerely be- 
lieve. For a full week they had been on the go, night and 
day, with rare and brief halts for rest or food. Just before 
their capture they would seem to have gone down a long hill 
into a valley, a literal Valley of Humiliation as it proved, 
for there they were compelled to stay and surrender, either 
from inability to climb the opposite hill and get away, or 
else because there was not opportunity for them to do so 
before our forces came upon them. Ancl yet, in spite of the 
worn and wasted state of those teams, it is doubtful if their 
kicking capacity was materially reduced by it. 

The question frequently raised among old soldiers is. 
What became of all the army mules ? There are thousands 
of these men who will take a solemn oath that they never 
saw a dead mule during the war. They can tell you of the 
carcasses of horses which dotted the line of march, animals 
which had fallen out from exhaustion or disease, and left by 



294 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



the roadside for the buzzards and crows. These they can 
recall by hundreds ; but not the dimmest picture of a single 
dead mule, and they will assure you that, to the best of their 
knowledge and belief, the government did not lose one of 
these animals during the war. I recently conversed with an 
old soldier who remembered having once seen, on the 
march, the four hoofs of a mule — those and nothing more; 
and the conclusion that he arrived at was that the mule, 
in a fit of temper, had kicked off his hoofs and gone up. 




"But the noblest THiN<i that perished there, 
Was that old army mule." 



Another soldier, a mule-driver, remembers of seeing a mule- 
team which had run off the corduroy road into a mire of 
quicksand. The wagon had settled down till its body 
rested in the mire, but nothing of the team was visible 
save the ear-tips of the off pole mule. 

As a fact, however, the mules, though tough and hardy, 
died of disease much as did the horses. Glanders took off a 
great many, and black tongue, a disease peculiar to them, 
caused the death of many more. But, with all their outs, 
they were of invaluable service to the armies, and well 
deserve the good opinions wliicli came to prevail regarding 
their many excellent qualities as beasts of burden. Here is 
an incident of the war in which the nuile was the hero of 
the hour : — 



THE ARMY MULE. 



295 



On the night of Oct. 28, 1863, when General Geary's 
Division of the Twelftli Corps repulsed tlie attacking forces 
of Longstreet at Wauhatchie, Tennessee, about two hun- 
dred mules, affrighted by the din of battle, rushed in the 
darkness into the midst of Wade Hampton's Rebel troops, 
creating something of a panic among them, and causing a 
portion of them to fall back, supposing that they were at- 










CHARGE OF THE MULE BRIGADE. 



tacked by cavalry. Some one in the Union army, who knew 
the circumstances, taking Tennyson's " Charge of the Light 
Brigade " as a basis, composed and circulated the following 
description of the ludicrous event: — 

CHARGE OF THE MULE BRIGADE. 

Half a mile, half a mile, 

Half a mile onward, 
Right through the Georgia troops 

Broke the two humlred. 



296 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 

' Forward the Mule Brigade ! 
Charge for the Rebs!" they neighed. 
Straight for the Georgia troops 
Broke the two hundred. 

" Forward the Mule Brigade!" 
Was there a mule dismayed? 
Not when the long ears felt 

All their ropes sundered. 
Theirs not to make reply. 
Theirs not to reason why. 
Theirs but to make Rebs fly. 
On ! to the Georgia troops 

Broke the two hundred. 

Mules to the right of them, 
Mules to the left of them, 
Mules behind them 

Pawed, neighed, and tluuidered. 
Breaking their own confines. 
Breaking through Lougstreet's lines 
Into the Georgia troops, 

Stormed the two hundred. 

Wild all their eyes did glare, 
Whisked all their tails in air 
Scattering the chivalry there, 

While all the world wondered. 
Not a mule back bestraddled, 
Yet how they all skedaddled — 
Fled every Georgian, 
Unsabred, unsaddled, 

Scattered and sundered! 
How they were routed there 

By the two hundred ! 

Mules to the right of them. 
Mules to the left of them, 
Mules behind them 

Pawed, neighed, and thundered; 
Followed by hoof and head 
Full many a hero fled. 
Fain in the last ditch dead, 
Back from an ass's jaw 
All that was left of them, — 
' Left by the two hundred. 



THE ARMY MULE. 



297 



When can their glory fade? 
Oh, the wild charge they made! 

All the world wondered. 
Honor the charge they made ! 
Honor the Mule Brigade, 

Long-eared two hundred ! 

The following plaint in behalf of this veteran quadruped 
will close this sketch : — 



THE ARMY MULE IN TIME OF PEACE. 

' That men are ungrateful can plainly be seen 
In the case of that mule standing out on the green. 
His features are careworn, bowed down is his head. 
His spirit is broken : his hopes have all fled. 
He thinks of the time when the battle raged sore, 
When he mingled his bray with the cannon's loud roar; 
When Uncle Sam's soldiers watched for him to come, 
Hauling stores of provisions and powder and rum; 
When his coming was greeted witli cheers and huzzas, 
And the victory turned on the side of the stars. 

' These thoughts put new life into rickety bones — 
He prances just once, then falls over and groans. 
A vision comes over his poor mulish mind, 
And he sees Uncle Sam, with his agents behind, 
Granting pensions by thousands to all who apply, 
From the private so low to the officer high; 
To the rich and the poor, the wise man and fool, 
But, alas! there is none for the ' poor army umle.' " 




CHAPTER XVI. 



HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 




HE sketch embodied in this 
chapter is an attempt in a 
limited s})ace to give the public 
a more adequate idea of the 
medical department of the army, 
what it was, how it grew up, 
and something of what it ac- 
complished. I enter upon it 
with a quasi-apology for its 
incompleteness, understanding 
fully how inadequate any mere 
sketch must be regarded by 
those whose labors in this department made its record one 
of the most remarkable in the history of the war ; yet, like 
all the other topics treated in this volume, it must undergo 
abridgment, and I can only hope that what is presented will, 
in some degree, do justice to this much neglected but very 
interesting theme in the Rebellion's annals. 

At the time of the battle of Bull Run there was no plan 
in operation by which the wounded in thot battle were 
cared for. Before this engagement took place, while the 
troops were lying in and around Washington, general 
hospitals had been established to provide for the sick. For 
this purpose five or six hotels, seminaries, and infirmaries, in 
Washington and Georgetown, and two or three in Alexan- 
dria, had been taken possession of, and these were all the 
hospital accommodations to be found at the end of the first 
three months. So general was the opinion that the war 

298 



lln>l>rrALS AND AMBULANCES. 299 

would be s|.(((liiy ended no one thought of such a thing 
as building |Kiiii;inent structures for hospital purposes. 

But this (-(MMliiion of affairs soon after changed. Prepara- 
tions for Will- wci'o made on a grander scale. The Army of 
the Potomac, iiinler the moulding liauds of McClellan, was 
iissuming fVnni. and the appointment by him, Aug. 12, 1861, 
of Surgeon ("Imiies 8. Tri[)ler as medical director of that 
army indicucd ;i, purpose of liaving a medical department 
set on fool :in«l put in completeness for active service. 
Jjct us paust' :in'l glance at the situation as he found it, and 
Ave may, perli.ijis, the better appreciate the full magnitude of 
the task which he had before him. 

Arni}^ Kfgii la lions were the written law to which it was 
attempted lo liave everything conform as far as possible. 
Jjut when these regulations were drafted, there was no expec- 
tation of sueii a war as finally came upon us, and to attempt 
to confine so large an army as then existed to them as a guide 
was as impo,<sil/lc; and absurd as for the full-grown man to 
wear the suit oT rlothes he cast off at ten years. 

•' >.u liiaes demand new measures and new men," 

and so in r.-i-fn directions Army Regulations had to be 
ignored. For example, they provided only for the establish- 
ment of regimental and general hospitals. A regimental 
hospital is wiiai its name indicates — the hospital of a particu- 
lar regimen 1. ['>ut if such a hospital became full or received 
some patieiii- whose ailments were not likely to submit 
readily to iieaiment, such cases were sent to a General 
Hospital., thai i>. one into which patients were taken regard- 
less of the reginient to which they belonged. But in these 
early war times. In the absence of a system, any patient who 
was able could, at his pleasure, leave one general hospital 
and go to aiM'iJKa- for any reason which seemed sufficient to 
him, or he eonid desert the service entirely. 

By general orders issued from the war department May 
25, 1861, g"\<,-iiiors of States were directed to appoint a 



300 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

surgeon and assistant surgeon for each regiment. Tlie men 
appointed were for the most part country physicians, many 
of them with little practice, who, on reaching the field, were, 
in some respects, as ignorant of their duties under tlie 
changed conditions as if they had not been educated to the 
p)ractice of medicine ; and the medical director of the army 
found his liands more than full in attempting to get them to 
carry out his wishes. So, to simplify his labors and also to 
increase the efficiency of his department, brigade hospitals 
were organized about the beginning of 1862, and by general 
orders from the war department brigade surgeons were 
appointed, with the rank of major, and assigned to the staffs 
of brigadier-generals. These brigade surgeons had supervis- 
ion of the surgeons of their brigades, and exercised this duty 
under the instructions of the medical director. 

TJie regimental hospitals in the field were sometimes tents, 
and sometimes dwellings or barns near camp. It was partly 
to relieve these that brigade hospitals were established. The 
latter were located near their brigade ""or division. 

The hospital tent I have already described at some length. 
I may add here that those in use for hospital purposes 
before the war were 24 feet long by 14 feet 6 inches wide, 
and 11 feet 6 inches high, but, owing to their great bulk and 
weight, and the difficulty of pitching them in windy weather, 
the size was reduced, in 1860, to 14 feet by 14 feet 6 inches, 
and 11 feet high in the centre, with the walls 4 feet 6 inches, 
and a '' fl}^ " 21 feet 6 inches by 14 feet. Each of these 
was designed to accommodate eight patients comfortably. 
Army Regulations assigned three such tents to a regiment, 
together with one Sibley and one Wedge or A tent. 

The Sibley tent I have likewise quite fully described. I 
will only add here that, not having a *' fly," it was very hot in 
warm weather. Then, on account of its centre pole and the 
absence of walls, it was quite contracted and inconvenient. 
For these reasons it was little used for hospital purposes, and 
not used at all after the early part of the war. 



HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 301 

The hospital tents in the Army of the Potomac were 
heated, for the most part, by what was called, for some 
reason, tlie California Plan. This consisted of a pit, dug 
just outside of the hospital door, two and a half feet deep, 
from which a trench passed through the tent, terminating 
outside the other end in a chimney, built of barrels, or in 
such a manner as I have elsewhere described. This trench 
was covered throughout its entire extent Avith iron plates, 
which were issued by the quartermaster's department for 
that purpose. The radiation of the heat from the plates 
kept the tent very comfortable. 

The honor of organizing the first field hospital in tents 
is said to belong to Dr. B. J. D. Irwin, U. S. A., of the 
Army of the Ohio. It occurred at the battle of Shiloh. 
While establishing a hospital near the camp of Prentiss' 
division of that army, which had been captured the day 
before, the abandoned tents still standing suggested them- 
selves to him as a convenient receptacle for his wounded. 
He at once appropriated the camp for this purpose, and laid 
it out in systematic form. It was clearly shown by this and 
succeeding experiences during the war that the wounded 
treated under canvas did better and recovered more rapidly 
than those treated in permanent hospitals. 

As fast as they could be procured, hospital tents were 
furnished, three to a regiment, in accordance with the pro- 
vision of Army Regulations referred to. Each regiment pro- 
vided its own nurses and cooks. In general hospitals 
one nurse was allowed to ten patients, and one cook to 
thirty. 

The capacity of a regimental hospital tent, like a stage- 
coach, varied according to the demand for room. I have said 
they were designed to accommodate eight. An old army 
surgeon says, "• Only six can be comfortably accommodated 
in one of them, three on each side." But when the surgeons 
were crowded with the wounded, it was a common practice 
to set two lono- narrow boards edgewise through the centre 



802 



II Ann TACK AND COFFEK. 



of tlio tent, about twenty inches a})art. If bi-m-Js were -want- 
ing, two good-sized jjoles were cut and used instead. Be- 
tween tliese was tlie passage for the surgeons and nurses. 
Behind the boards or poles a filling of strav^■ or line boughs 
was made and covered witli blankets. On tln-s»^ latter could 
be placed twenty patients, ten on either side: but they were 
crowded. When six single cots were put in one of these 
tents, three on each side, ample space was ;iiroi(|ftd to pass 
among them. 

In the latter part of 1861, the government, r.;di/.i ng its press- 
ing needs, began to build general hospitals lor the comfort 




A T\VO-WHEET.EI> AMBULANCE. 



and acconrmodation of its increasing thousiuMU of sick and 
wounded, continuing to build, as the needs ijni-.'ased, to the 
very last year of the war, when they nnmbered two 
hundred and five. 

Before tlie civil war, the government hin! never been 
supplied with carriages to convey the sick .uid wounded. 
Only two years before, a board, a})pointed b\' iho secretary 
of war, had adopted for experiment a four-w Imeled and a 
two-wheeled carriage. The four-wheeled vehicle was tried in 
an expedition sent into New Mexico, and was favorably 
reported on; the two-wheeled was never tested, but was 
judged to be the best adapted to badly wonuded men 



HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 303 

(though the contrary proved to be the fact), and so the 
board reported in favor of adopting these carriages in the 
ratio of five two-wheeled to one four-wheeled. 

When Surgeon Trijiler took charge, he found several of 
these two-wheeled carriages in Washington, but they were 
used chiefly as pleasure-carriages for officers, or for some 
other private purpose. Tliis was stopped, for a time at least, 
and an order was issued, leaving one to a regiment and 
requiring the rest to be turned over to the quartermaster's 
department. But the perversion of ambulances from their 
proper use, I will add in passing, continued, to a greater 
or less extent, till the end of the war. This very year 
McClellan ivssued an order for them not to be used except 
for the transportation of the side and wounded, unless by 
authority of the brigade commander, the medical director, or 
the quartermaster in charge, and the provost-marshal was 
ordered to arrest officers and confine non-commissioned offi- 
cers and privates for violation of the order. 

The most important steps taken towards organizing the 
medical department, and placing it on that thorough basis 
which distinguished it in the later years of the war, were the 
result of the foresight, energy, and skilful maiiagement of 
Dr. Jonathan Letterman, who was made medical director of 
the Army of the Potomac on the 19th of June, 1862. His 
labor was something enormous. It was during the progress 
of the Peninsular Campaign. All was confusion. Medical 
supplies were exhausted. Thousands of sick and wounded 
men were dying for want of proper care and medicine. Yet 
this campaign, so disastrous in its results to our army from a 
military point of vicAV, was a valuable teacher in many 
respects, and one of its most pointed and practical lessons 
was the necessity shown of having the ambulances organized 
and under a competent head. It remained for Dr. Letterman 
to appreciate this need, and effect an organization which 
remained practically unchanged till the close of the war. 
Here is the substance of the plan which he drew up, and' 



304 UABB TACK AND COFFEE. 

which General McCleUan approved, and published to the 
army in orders, Aug. 2, 1862, and which General Meade reis- 
sued, with some additions and slight changes, a little more 
than a year later. 

AMBULANCE CORPS. 

All of the ambulances belonging to an army corps were to 
be placed under the control of the medical director of that 
cor2:>s, for now, in addition to a medical director of the army, 
there was a subordinate medical director for each army 
corps. Such an ambulance corps was put into the hands of 
a captain as commandant. This corps was divided and sub- 
divided into division, brigade, and regimental trains, cor- 
responding to the divisions of the army corps to which it 
belonged, having a first lieutenant in charge of a division, a 
second lieutenant in chargre of a brigade, and a sergeant in 
charge of a regimental detachment. Besides these, three 
privates, one of them being the driver, were to accompany 
each ambulance on the march and in battle. The duties of 
all these men, both officers and privates, were very carefully 
defined, as well for camp as for the march and battle. Besides 
the ambulances, there acc6mpanied each corps one medicine- 
wagon and one army wagon to a brigade, containing the 
requisite medicines, dressings, instruments, hospital stores, 
bedding, medical books, small furniture (like tumblers, 
basins, bed-pans, spoons, vials, etc.). 

In addition to the foregoing articles, which were carefully 
assorted both as to quantity and quality, each ambulance was 
required to carry in the box beneath the driver's seat, under 
lock and key, the following articles : — 

Three bed-sacks, six 2-pound cans beef-stock, one leather 
bucket, three camp kettles (assorted sizes), one lantern and 
candle, six tin plates, six table-spoons, six tin tumblers; 
and, just before a battle, ten pounds hard bread were re- 
quired to be put into the box. 



HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 



305 



There was another scheme, which was conceived and car- 
ried into execution by Dr. Letterman, which deserves men- 
tion in this connection. This was the establisiiraent of Field 
Hospitals, "in order that the wounded might receive the 
most prompt and efficient attention during and after an 
engagement, and that the necessary operations might be 
performed by the most skilful and responsible surgeons, at 
the earliest moment." Under Surgeon Tripler, there had 
been rendezvous established in rear of the army, to which 
all the wounded were taken for immediate attention, before 




A FOUR-WHEELED AMBULANCE. 



being sent to general hospitals. But there was no recog- 
nized system and efficiency in regard to it. Just before an 
engagement, a field hospital for each division was established. 
It was made by pitching a suitable numljer of hospital tents. 
The location of such a hospital was left to the medical direc- 
tor of the corps. Of course, it must be in the rear of the 
division, out of all danger and in a place easily reached by 
the ambulances. A division hospital of this description was 
under the charge of a surgeon, who was selected by the 
surgeon-in-chief of tlie division. With him was an assistant 
surgeon, similarly appointed, whose duty it was to pitch the 
tents, provide straw, fuel, water, etc., and, in general, make 
everything ready for the comfort of the wounded. For 



30r> JIAHJ) TACK AM) COFFEE. 

doing tliis tlie ]i()S})ital stewards and nurses of tlie division 
were placed under his cliarge, and special details made from 
the regiments to assist. A kitchen or cook-tent must be at 
once erected and the cooks put in possession of the articles 
mentioned as carried in the ambulance boxes and hospital- 
wagons, so that a sufficient amount of nourishing food could 
be prepared for immediate use. 

Another assistant surgeon was detailed to keep a complete 
record of patients, with name, rank, company, and regiment, 
the nature of their wound, its treatment, etc. He was also 
required to see to the proper interment of those who died, 
and the placing of properly marked head-boards at their 
graves. 

Then, there were in each of these division hospitals three 
surgeons, selected from the whole division, " without regard 
to rank, but solely on account of their known prudence, judg- 
ment, and skill," whose duty it was to perform all important 
operations, or, at least, be responsible for their performance. 
Three other medical officers were detailed to assist these 
three. Nor was this all, for the remaining medical officers 
of the division, except one to a regiment, were also required 
to report at once to the hospital, to act as dressers of wounds 
and assistants generally. In addition to these, a proper num- 
ber of nurses and attendants were detailed to be on hand. 
The medical officers left with regiments were required to 
establish themselves during the fighting in the rear of their 
respective organizations, at such a distance as not to unnec- 
essarily expose themselves, where they coald give such 
temporary aid to the wounded as they should stand in 
need of. 

I have said tliat these hos[)itals were to be located out of 
all danger. That statement needs a little modifying. In 
case the tide of battle turned against our army and it was 
compelled to retreat, what was before a safe place n.iight 
at once be converted into a place of great danger. But a 
hospital could not be struck and its patients moved at a 



HOSPITALS ANB AMBULANCES. 



307 



moment's or even a clay's warning, as a rule, and so it was 
made the duty of the medical director of a corps to select 
a sufficient number of medical officevs, wlio, in case a retreat 
was found necessary, should remain in charge of the 
wounded. When the Rebels captured such a hospital, it 
was their general practice to parole all the inmates — that is, 
require them to give their word of honor that they would 
not bear arms again until they had been properly exchanged 




A MEDICINE WAGON. 



as prisoners of war. Our government established what 
were known as parole camps, where such prisoners were 
required to remain until duly exchanged. 

I think it can now be readily understood, from even this 
fragmentary sketch, hoAV the establishment of these field 
hospitals facilitated the care of the wounded, and, by their 
systematic workings, saved liundreds of lives. With a skil- 
ful, energetic man as medical director of tlie army, giving 
his orders to medical directors of C()r[)S, and these carefully 
superintending surgeons-in-chief of divisions, avIio, in turn, 
held the surgeons and assistant surgfeons and officers of 
ambulance corps to a strict accountal)ility for a careful per- 
formance of their duties, while tlie latter fortified them- 
selves by judicious oversight of their sulK)rdinates. tlie result 



808 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

was to place this department of the army on a footing whicli 
endured, with tlie most profitable of results to the service, 
till the close of the war. 

I vividly remember my first look into one of these field 
hospitals. It was, I think, on the 27th of November, 1863, 
during the Mine Run Campaign, so-called. General French, 
then commanding the Third Corps, was fighting the battle 
of Locust Grove, and General Warren, with the Second 
Corps, had also been engaged with the eneni}^, and had 
driven him from the neighborhood of Robertson's Tavern, 
in the vicinity of which the terrific Battle of the Wilderness 
began the following May. Near this tavern the field hospi- 
tal of Warren's Second Division had been located, and into 
this I peered while my battery stood in park not far away, 
awaiting orders. The surgeon had just completed an oper- 
ation. It was the amputation of an arm about five inches 
below the shoulder, the stump being now carefully dressed 
and bandaged. As soon as the patient recovered from the 
effects of the ether, the attendants raised him to a sitting- 
posture on the operating-table. At that moment the thought 
of his wounded arm returned to him, and, turning his eyes 
towards it, they met only the projecting stub. The awful 
reality dawned upon him for the first time. An arm had 
gone forever, and he dropped backwards on the table in a 
swoon. Many a poor fellow like him brought to the opera- 
tor's table came to consciousness only to miss an arm or a 
leg which perhaps he had begged in his last conscious mo- 
ments to have spared. But the medical officers first men- 
tioned decided all such cases, and the patient had only to 
submit. At Peach-Tree Creek, Col. Thomas Reynolds of the 
Western army was shot in tlie leg, and, while the surgeons 
were debating the propriety of amputating it, the colonel, 
who was of Irish birth, begged them to spare it, as it was 
very valuable, being an imported leg, — a piece of wit which 
saved the gallant officer his leg, although he became so nuich 
of a cripple that he was compelled to leave the service. 



HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 309 

It has been charged that limbs and arms were often use- 
lessly sacrificed by the operators ; that they were especiallj^ 
fond of amputating, and just as likely to amputate for a 
flesh-wound as for a fractured bone, on tlie ground that thev 
could do it more quickly than they could dress the wound; 



A FOLDING LITTEK. 



that it made a neater job, thus gratifying professional pride : 
but how the victim might feel about it or be affected by it 
then or thereafter did not seem to enter their thoughts. It 
was undoubtedly true that many flesh-wounds were so ugly 
the only safety for the patient lay in amputation. A fine 
fellow, both as a man and soldier, belonging to my company, 
lost his arm from a flesh-wound — needlessly, as he and his 
friends always asserted and believed. 

A corporal of the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery 
suffered a compound fracture of the left knee-joint from a 
piece of shell by winch he was struck at the battle of 




A STHKTCHEK. 



Hatcher's Run, Oct. 27, 18G4. In the course of time he 
reached the Lincoln Hospitals (w^ell do I remember them 
as they stood on Capitol Hill where they were erected just 
before the bloody repulse at Fredericksburg), where a sur- 
geon decided that his leg must come off, and, after instruct- 
ing the nurse to prepare liim for the operating-room, left the 
ward. But the corporal talked the matter over with a 
wounded cavalryman (this was a year wIumi cavalrymen were 
wounded quite generally) and decided that his leg must 7iot 



810 IIAIW TACK AN I) COFFEE. 

come off; so, obtainino- the loaded revolver of his comrade, 
he put it under his pillow and awaited the reappearance of 
the surgeon. He returned not long after, accompanied by 
two men with a stretclier, and approached the cot. 

" What are you going to do ? " asked the corporal. 

" My boy, we will liave to take your leg off," was the reply 
of the surgeon. 

"Not if I know myself," rejoined the corporal, with 
determination expressed in both looks and language. 

For a moment the surgeon was taken aback by the sol- 
dier's resolute manner. But directly he turned to the men 
and said, " Come, boys, take him up carefully," whereupon 
the stretcher-bearers advanced to obey the order. At the 
same instant the corporal drew the revolver from beneath 
his pillow, cocked it, and, in a voice which carried convic- 
tion, exclaimed, '' Tlte man that puts a lia^ui on me dies!''' 
At this the men stepped back, and the surgeon tried to rea- 
son with the corjDoral, assuring him that in no other way 
could his life be saved. But the corporal persisted in 
declaring that if he died it should be with both legs on. 

At that "Sawbones." (as the men used to call them) lost 
his temper and sought out the surgeon in general charge, 
with whom he soon returned to the corporal. This head 
surgeon, first by threats and afterwards by persuasion, tried 
to secure the revolver, but, failing to do so, turned away, ex- 
claiming, with an oath, " Let the d fool keep it and die ! " 

but a moment after, on second thought, said to the first sur- 
geon that, as they wanted a subject to try the water-cure 
on, he thought the corporal would meet that want. After 
obtaining a promise from tlie surgeon that he would not 
himself take the leg off or allow any one else to, the cor- 
poral assented to the proposition. 

A can was then arranged over the wounded knee, in such 
a manner as to drop water on the cloth which enwrapped 
it da}^ and night, and a cure was finally effected. 

This is the substance of the story as I received it from the 



HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 



311 



lij)S of the corporal liimseli', who, let me say in passing, was 
reduced to the rank of private, and mustered out of the ser- 
vice as such, for daring to keep two whole legs under him. 
His bravery in the hour of peril — to him — deserved better 
things from his country than that. 

But to return to the field hospital again ; on the ground 
lay one num, wounded in the knee, while another sat near, 
wounded in the finger. Tiiis latter was a suspicious 
wound. Men of doubtful courage had a way of shooting 
off the end of the trigo-er-finaer to o-et out of service. But 




PLACING A WOUNDED MAN ON A STRETCHER. 



they sometimes did it in such a bungling manner that they 
were found out. The powder blown into the wound was 
often the evidence which convicted tliem. These men must 
be proud of such scars to-day. 

Three wounded Rebels also lay in the tent, waiting for 
surgical attention. Of course, they would not be put upon 
the tables until all of our own wounded were attended to ; they 
did not expect it. In one part of the tent lay two or three 
of our men, who were either lifeless or faint from loss of 
blood. Only a few rods away from the tent were some 
freshly made graves enclosing the forms of men whose 
wounds had proved fatal, either having died ou their way 
to the hospital or soon after their arrival. Among these was 
the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Tlieodore Hesser, who was shot 



312 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



ill the head while bravely leading the Seventy -second Penn- 
S3"lvauia Infantry in a charge. The graves were all plainly 
marked with small head-boards. A drizzling rain added 
gloom to the scene ; and my first call at a field hospital, with 
its dismal surroundings, was brief. 

One regulation made for this department of the service 
was never enforced. It provided that no one but the 
I^roper medical officers or the officers, non-commissioned 
officers, and privates of the ambulance corps should conduct 
sick or wounded to the rear, either on the march or in battle, 




CARRYING A WOUNDED MAN TO THE REAR. 



but as a matter of fact there were probably more wounded men 
helped off the field by soldiers not members of the ambulance 
corps than by members of that body. There were always 
plenty of men who hadn't the interests of the cause so 
nearly at heart but what they could be induced, without 
much persuasion, when bullets and shells were flying thick, 
to leave the front line and escort a suffering comrade to the 
rear. Very often such a sufferer found a larger body-guard 
than could well make his needs a pretext for their absence from 
the line. Then, too, many of these escorts were most unfortu- 
nate, and lost their tvay., so that they did not find their regi- 
ment again until after the battle was over. A large number 
of them would be included among the Shirks and Beats, 



HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 313 

whom I have already described. But, in truth, it was not 
possible for the ambulance corps to do much more in a hot 
fight than to keep their stretchers properly manned. Each 
ambulance was provided with two of these, and the severely 
wounded who could not help themselves must be placed on 
them and cared for first, so that there was often need for a 
helping hand to be given a comrade who was quite seriously 
wounded, yet could hobble along with a shoulder to lean on. 

The designating mark of members of the ambulance corps 
was, for sergeants, a green band an inch and a quarter broad 
around the cap, and inverted chevrons of the same color on 
each arm, above the elbow; for privates the same kind of band 
and a half chevron of the same material. By means of this 
designation they were easily recognized. 

By orders of General Meade, issued in August, 1863, 
three ambulances were allowed to a regiment of infantrj^ ; 
two to a regiment of cavalry, and one to a battery of artil- 
lery, with which it was to remain permanently. Owing to 
this fact, an artillery company furnished its own stretcher- 
bearers when needed. I shall be pardoned the introduction 
of a personal incident, as it will illustrate in some measure 
the duties and trials of a stretcher-bearer. It was at the 
battle of Hatcher s Bun, already referred to, or the Boydton 
Plank Boad, as some called it. The guns had been 
ordered into position near Burgess' Tavern, leaving the 
caissons and ambulance nearly a half-mile in the rear. 
Meanwhile, a flank attack of the enemy cut off our commu- 
nications with the rear for a time, and we thought ourselves 
sure of an involuntary trip to Richmond; but the way was 
opened again by some of our advance charging to the rear, 
and b}^ the destructive fire from our artillery. Soon orders 
came for the battery to return to the rear. In common 
with the rest, the writer started to do so when a sergeant 
asked him to remain and help take off one of our lieutenants, 
who was lying in a barn near by, severely wounded. So 
actively had we been engaged that this was my first 



314 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 

knowledge of the sad event. But, alas ! what was to 
be done ? Our ambulance with its stretchers was to the 
rear. That could not now avail us. We must resort 
to other means. Fortunately, they were at hand. An 
abandoned army-blanket lay near, and, carefully placing 
the lieutenant on this, with one man at each corner, we 
started. 

But the wounded officer was heavy, and it was, as can 
readily be seen, an awkward way of carrying him. Moreover, 
his wound was a serious one, — mortal as it soon proved, — 
and every movement of ours tortured him so that he begged 
of us to leave him there to die. Just then we caught sight 
of a stretcher on which a wounded Rebel was lying. Some 
Union stretcher-bearers had been taking him to the rear 
when the flank attack occurred, when they evidently aban- 
doned him to look out for themselves. It was not a time 
for sentiment ; so, with the sergeant at one end of the 
stretcher and the narrator at the other, our wounded 
enemy was rolled off, with as much care as time would 
allow. With the aid of our other comrades we soon put the 
lieutenant in his place, and, raising the stretcher to our 
shoulders, started down the road to the rear. We had gone 
but a few rods, however, before the enemy's sliar|)shooters 
or outposts fired on us, driving us to seek safety in the 
woods. But it was now dusk, and no easy matter to take 
such a burden through woods, especially as it rapidly grew 
darker. Suffice it to know, however, that, after more than 
an hour's wandering and plunging, our burden was delivered 
at the ambulance, where another of our lieutenants, also 
mortally wounded, was afterwards to join him. This frag- 
ment of personal experience will well illustrate some of the 
many obstacles which stretcher-bearers had to contend 
with, and disclose the further truth that in actual com- 
bat the chances for severely wounded men to be taken from 
the field were few indeed, for at such a time stretcher- 
bearers, like the proverbial •' good men," are scarce. 



HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES. 315 

I omitted to say in the proper connection that the men 
whose wounds were dressed in the lield hospitals were 
transported as rapidly as convenient to the general hospitals, 
where the best of care and attention could be given them. 
Such hospitals were located in various places. Whenever 
it was possible, transportation was by water, in steamers 
specially fitted up for such a purpose. There may be seen 
in the National Museum at Washington, the building in 
which President Lincoln was assassinated, beautiful models 
of these steamers as well as of hospital railway trains with 
all their furnishings of ease and comfort, designed to carry 
patients by rail to any designated place. 

Another invention for the transportation of the wounded 
from the field was the Cacolet or Mule Litter., which was borne 
either by a mule or a horse, and arranged to carry, some 
one and some two, wounded men. But although it was at 
first supposed that they would be a great blessing for this 
purpose, yet, being strapped tightly to the body of the 
animal, they felt his every motion, thus making them 
an intensely uncomfortable carriage for a severely wounded 
soldier, so that they were used but very little. 

The distinguished surgeon Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, whose 
son, Lieut. Bowditch, was mortally wounded in the cavalry 
fight at Kelly's Ford, voiced, in his "Plea for an Ambulance 
System," the general dissatisfaction of the medical profes- 
sion with the neglect or barbarous treatment of our wounded 
on the battle-field. This was as late as the spring of 1863. 
They had petitioned Congress to adopt some system without 
delay, and a bill to that effect had passed the House, but on 
Feb. 24, 1863, the Committee on Military Affairs, of which 
Senator Henry Wilson was chairman, reported against a bill 
•' in relation to Military Hospitals and to organize an Ambu- 
lance Corj^s," as an impracticable measure at that time, and 
the Senate adopted the report, and there, I think, it dropped. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



SCATTERING SHOTS. 



' His coat was e'er so much too short, 

His pants a mile too wide, 
And when he raarclied could not keep step 

However much he tried." 




THE CLOTHING. 

ORTY-TWO dollars was the sum al- 
lowed by the government to clotlie 
the private soldier for the space of 
one year. The articles included in 
his outfit were a cap or hat (usually 
the former), blouse, overcoat, dress 
coat, trousers, shirts, drawers, socks, 
shoes, a woollen and a rubber blanket. 
This was the wardrobe of the infan- 
try. It should be said, however, that 
many regiments never drew a dress 
coat after leaving the state, the 
blouse serving as the substitute for that garment. The 
artillery and cavalry had the same except that a jacket took 
the place of the dress coat, boots that of shoes, and their 
trousers had a re-enforce^ that is, an extra thickness of cloth 
extending from the upper part of the seat down the inside 
of both legs, for greater durability in the service required 
of these branches in the saddle. 

This outfit was not sufficient to last the year through, for 
various reasons, and so the quartermaster supplied dupli- 
cates of the garments when needed. But whatever was 
drawn from him beyond the amount allowed by the govern- 
ment was charged to the individual, and deducted from his 

316 



SCATTERING SHOTS. 317 

pay at the end of the year. If, however, a man was so 
fortunate as not to overdraw his allowance, which rarely 
happened, he received the balance in cash. 

The infantry made way with a large amount of clothing. 
Much of it was thrown away on the march. A soldier 
burdened with a musket, from forty to eighty rounds 
of ammunition, according to circumstances ; a haversack 
stuffed plump as a pillow, but not so soft, with three days 
rations; a canteen of water, a woollen and rubber blanket, 
and a half shelter tent, would be likely to take just what 
more he was obliged to. So, with the opening of the spring 
campaign, away would go all extra clothing. A choice was 
made between the dress coat and blouse, for one of tliese 
must go. Then some men took their overcoat and left their 
blanket. In brief, when a campaign was fairly under way 
the average infantryman's wardrobe was what he had on. 
Only that and nothing more. At the first start from camp 
many would burden themselves with much more than the 
above, but after a few miles tramp the roadside would be 
sprinkled with the cast-away articles. There seemed to be 
a difference between Eastern and Western troops in this 
respect, for reasons which I will not attempt now to analyze, 
for Grant says (Memoirs, vol. ii., pp. 190-191): — 

" I saw scattered along the road, from Culpeper to Ger- 
mania Ford, wagon-loads of new blankets and overcoats 
thrown away by the troops to lighten their knapsacks ; 
an improvidence I had never witnessed before." 

It was a way the Army of the Potomac had of getting into 
light marching order. 

When the infantry were ordered in on a charge, they 
always left their knapsacks behind them, which they might 
or might not see again. And whenever they were surprised 
and compelled to fall back hastily, they were likely to throw 
aside everything that impeded their progress except musket 
and ammunition. Then, in the heat of battle, again there 
was a dispensing with all encumbrances that would impair 



318 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



their efficiency. For these and other reasons, the govern- 
mental aUowances would not have been at all adequate to 
cover the losses in clothing. Recognizing this fact, the gov- 
ernment sujiplied new articles gratis for everything lost in 
action, the quartermaster being required to make out a list 

of all such articles, and to certify 
that they were so lost, before new 
ones could be obtained. 

But the men who did garrison 
duty were not exempt from long- 
clothing bills more than were those 
who were active at the front. I 
have in mind the heavy artillerymen 
who orarrisoned the forts around 
Washington. They were in receipt 
of visits at all hours in the day from 
the most distinguished of military 
and civil guests, and on this account 
were not only obliged to be efficient 
in drill but showy on parade. Hence 
their clothing had always to be of 
the best. No patched or untidy 
garments were tolerated. In tlie 
spring of 1864, twenty-four thousand 
of these men were despatched as re- 
enforcements to the Army of the 
Potomac, and a fine lot of men they 
were. They were soldiers, for the 
most part, who had enlisted early in the war, and, having had 
so safe — or, as the boys used to say, "soft " — and easy a time 
of it in the forts, had re-enlisted, only to be soon relieved of 
garrison duty and sent to the front as infantry. But while 
they were veterans in service in point of time, yet, so far as 
the real hardships of war were concerned, they were simply 
recruits. I shall never forget that muggy, muddy morn- 
ing of the 18th of May, when, standing by the roadside 




IN HEAVY MARCHING ORDER. 



SCATTERING SHOTS. 319 

near what was known as the " Brown House," at Spottsyl- 
vania, I saw this fine-looking lot of soldiers go by. Their 
uniforms and equipments all seemed new. Among the regi- 
ments was the First Maine Heavy Artillery. 

" What regiment is this ? " was inquired at the head of the 
column by bj'standers. 

"First Maine," was the reply. 

After the columns had marched by a while, some one 
would again ask what regiment it was, only to find it still 
the First Maine. It numbered over two thousand strong, 
and, never having lost any men in battles and hard 
campaigning, its ranks were full. The strength of these 
regiments struck the Army of the Potomac with sur- 
prise. A single regiment larger than one of their own 
brigades ! 

These men had started from Washington with knapsacks 
that were immense in their proportions, and had clung to 
them manfully the first day or two out, but this morning in 
question, which was of the sultriest kind, was taxing them 
beyond endurance, as they plunged along in the mire march- 
ing up to the front; and their course could have been fol- 
lowed by the well stuffed knapsacks — or " bureaus," as some 
of the old vets called them — that sprinkled tlie roadside. 
It seemed rather sad to see a man step out of the ranks, un- 
sling his knapsack, seat himself for a moment to overhaul 
its contents, transfer to his pocket some little keepsake, 
then, rising, and casting one despairing look at it, hurry on 
after the column. Many would not even open their knap- 
sacks, but, giving them a toss, would leave them to fate, and 
sternly resume tlieir march. It was the second in the list of 
sacrifices that active campaigning required of them. Their 
first was made in cutting loose from their comfortable quar- 
ters and accumulated conveniences in the forts, which they 
had so recently left. 

The knaj)sack, haversack, canteen, and shelter-tent, like 
the arms, were government property, for which the com- 



320 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

niaiiding officer of a company was responsible. At the end 
of a soldier's term of service, they were to be turned in or 
properly accounted for. 



ARMY CATTLE. 

An army officer who was reputed to have been of high 
and hasty temper, who certainly seemed to have been capa- 
ble of rash and inconsiderate remarks, was once overheard 
to say of soldiers that they were nothing but cattle, ajid de- 
served to be treated only as such. In the short sketch here 
submitted on the subject of Army Cattle, I do not include 
the variety above referred to, but rather the quadrupedal 
kind that furnished food for them. 

In the sketch on Army Rations I named fresh beef as one 
of the articles furnished, but I gave no particulars as to just 
how the army was supplied with it. This I will now en- 
deavor to do. 

When there came an active demand for fresh and salt 
meat to feed the soldiers and sailors, at once the price 
advanced, and Northern farmers turned their attention more 
extensively to grazing. Of course, the great mass of the 
cattle were raised in the West, but yet even rugged New 
England contributed no inconsiderable quantity to swell the 
total. These were sent by hundreds and thousands on rail 
and shipboard to the various armies. On their arrival, they 
were put in a corral. Here they were subject, like all sup- 
plies, to the disposition of the commissary-general of the 
army, who, through his subordinates, supplied them to the 
various organizations upon the presentation of a requisition, 
signed by the commanding officer of a regiment or other body 
of troops, certifying to the number of rations of meat required. 

When the army was investing Petersburg and Richmond, 
the cattle were in corral near City Point. On the l(3th of 
September, 1864, the Rebels having learned through their 
scouts that this corral was but slightly guarded, and that by 



SCATTERING SHOTS. 321 

making a wide detour in the tear of our lines the chances 
were good for them to add a few rations of fresh beef to 
the bacon and corn-meal diet of the Rebel army, a strong 
force of cavalry under Wade Hampton made the attempt, 
capturing twenty-five hundred beeves and four hundred 
prisoners, and getting off with them before our cavalry could 
intervene. The beeves were a blessing to them, far more 
precious and valuable than as many Union prisoners would 
have been ; for they already had more prisoners than they 
could or would feed. As for us, I do not remember that 
fresh meat was any the scarcer on account of this raid, for 
the North, with its abundance, was bountifully supplying the 
goverhment with whatever was needed, and the loss of a 
few hundred cattle could scarcely cause even a temporary 
inconvenience. Had the army been on the march, away 
from its base of supplies, the loss might have been felt more 
severely. 

Whenever the army made a move its supply of fresh meat 
went along too. Who had charge of it? Men were de- 
tailed for the business from the various regiments, who 
acted both as butchers and drovers, and were excused from 
all other duty. When a halt was made for the night, some 
of the steers would be slaughtered, and the meat furnished 
to the troops upon presentation of the proper requisitions 
by quartermasters. The butcher killed his victims with a 
rifle. The killing was not always done at night. It often 
took place in the morning or forenoon, and the men received 
their rations in time to cook for dinner. 

The manner in which these cattle were taken along was 
rather interesting. One might very naturally suppose that 
they would be driven along the road just as they are driven 
in any neighborhood ; but such was not exactly the case. 
Tlie troops and trains must use the roads, and so the cattle 
must needs travel elsewhere, which they did. Every herd 
liad a steer that was used both as a pack animal and a leader. 
As a pack animal he bore the equipments and cooking uten- 



322 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



sils of the drovers. He was as docile as an old cow or horse, 
and could be led or called fully as readily. By day he was 
preceded in his lead by the herdsman in charge, on horse- 
back, while otlier herdsmen brought up the rear. It was 
necessary to keep the herd along with the troops for two 
reasons — safety and convenience; and, as they could not 




LEADING THE HERD. 



use the road, they skirted the fields and woods, only a short 
remove from the highways, and picked their way as best 
they could. 

By night one of the herdsmen went ahead of the herd on 
foot, making a gentle hallooing .sound which the sagacious 
steer on lead steadily followed, and was in turn faith- 
fully followed by the rest of the herd. The herds- 
man's course lay sometimes through the open, but often 
through the woods, which made the hallooing sound neces^' 
sary as a guide to keep the herd from straying. They kept 
nearer the road at night than in the day, partly for safety's 
sake, and partly to take advantage of the light from huge 
camp-fires which detachments of cavalry, that preceded 



SCATTERING SHOTS. 



323 



the army, kindled at intervals to light the way, making 
them nearer together in woods and swamps than elsewhere. 
Even then these drovers often had a thorny and difficult 
path to travel in picking their way through underbrush and 
brambles. 

Such a herd got its living off the country in the summer, 
but not in the winter. It was a sad sight to see these 
animals, which followed the army so patiently, sacrificed 




THE LAST STEER. 



one after the other until but a half-dozen were left. When 
the number had been reduced to this extent, they seemed to 
realize the fate in store for them, and it often took the 
butcher some time before he could succeed in facino- 
one long enough to shoot him. - His aim vv^as at the curl 
of the hair between the eyes, and they would avert their 
lowered heads whenever he raised liis rifle, until, at last, 
his quick eye brought them to the ground. 

From the manner in which I have spoken of these herds, 
it may be inferred that there was a common herd for the 
whole army ; but such was not the case. The same system 
prevailed here as elsewhere. For example, when the army 
entered the Wilderness with three days' rations of hard 



324 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

bread, and three days' rations of meat in their haversacks, the 
fresh meat to accompany the other three days' rations, which 
they had stowed in their knapsacks, was driven along in di- 
vision herds. The remainder of the meat ration which they 
required to Last them for the sixteen days during which it 
was expected the army would be away from a base of 
supplies was driven as corps herds. In addition to these 
there was a general or army- herd to fall back upon when 
necessary to supply the corps herds, but this was always at 
the base of supplies. Probably from eight to ten thousand 
head of cattle accompanied the army across the Rapidan, 
when it entered upon the Wilderness Campaign. 

THE ARMY HORSE. 

I have already stated that the horse was the sole reliance 
of the artillery and cavalry, and have given the reasons why 
the mule was a failure in either branch. I have also stated 
that the mule replaced him, for the most part, in the wagon- 
trains, six mules being substituted for four horses. I did 
not state that in the ambulance train the horses were 
retained because they were the steadier. But 1 wish now to 
refer more particularly to their conduct in action and on 
duty generally. 

First, then, I will come directl}^ to the point by saying that 
the horse was a hero in action. That horses under fire behaved 
far better than men did under a similar exposure would 
naturally be expected, for men knew what and whom to 
fear, whereas a horse, when hit by a bullet, if he. could get 
loose, was fully as likely to run towards the enemy as from 
him. But not every horse would run or make a fuss 
when wounded. It depended partly upon the horse and 
partly upon the character and location of the wound. I 
have seen bullets buried in the neck or rump of steady- 
nerved horses without causing them to show more than a little 
temporary uneasiness. The best illustration of the fortitude 



"\ 







GENERAL HANCOCK AT KEAM's STATION, VA., AUGUST 25, 1864. 



SCATTERING SHOTS. 327 

of horse-flesh that I ever witnessed occurred on the 25th of 
August, 1864, at Ream's Station on the Weldon Railroad. 
In this battle the fifty-seven or eight horses belonging to 
ni}^ company stood out in bold relief, a sightly target for the 
bullets of Rebel sharpshooters, who, from a woods and corn- 
field in our front, improved their opportunity to the full. 
Their object was to kill off our horses, and then, by charg- 
ing, take the guns, if possible. 

It was painfully interesting to note the manner in which 
our brave limber-horses — those which drew the guns — 
succumbed to the bullets of the enemy. They stood har- 
nessed in teams of six. A peculiar dull thud indicated that 
the bullet had penetated some fleshy part of the animal, 
sounding much as a pebble does when thrown into the mud. 
The result of such wounds was to make the horse start for a 
moment or so, but finally he would settle down as if it was 
something to be endured without making a fuss, and thus 
he would remain until struck again. I remember having 
had my eye on one horse at the very moment when a bullet 
entered his neck, but the wound had no other effect upon 
him than to make him shake his head as if pestered by a fly. 
Some of the horses would go down when hit by the first 
bullet and after lying quiet awhile would struggle to their 
feet again only to receive additional wounds. Just before 
the close of this battle, while our gallant General Hancock 
was riding along endeavoring by his own personal fearless- 
ness to rally his retreating troops, his horse received a 
bullet in the neck, from the effects of which he fell forward, 
dismounting the general, and appearing as if dead. Believ- 
ing such to be the case, Hancock mounted another horse ; 
but within five minutes the fallen brute arose, shook him- 
self, was at once remounted by the general, and survived 
the war many years. 

When a bullet struck the bone of a horse's leg in the 
lower part, it made a hollow snapping sound and took him 
off his feet. I saw one pole-horse shot thus, fracturing the 



328 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

bone. Down he went at once, but all encumbered as he 
was with liarness and limber, he soon scrambled up and 
stood on three legs until a bullet hit him vitally. It seemed 
sad to see a single horse left standing, with his five compan- 
ions all lying dead or dying around hiin, himself the object of 
a concentrated fire until the fatal shot finally laid him low. 
I saw one such brute struck by the seventh bullet before he 
fell for the last time. Several received as many as five 




REAL ' HORSE SENSE. 



bullets, and it was thought by some that they would average 
that number apiece. They were certainly very thoroughly 
riddled, and long before the serious fighting of the day 
occurred but two of the thirty-one nearest the enemy re- 
mained standing. These two had been struck but not 
vitally, and survived some time longer. We took but four 
of our fifty-seven horses from that ill-starred fray. 

But, aside from their wonderful heroism, — for I can find no 
better name for it, — they exhibited in many ways that sagac- 
ity for which the animal is famous. I have already referred 
to the readiness with which they responded to many of the 
bu^le-ctills used on drill. In the cavalry service thev knew 
their places as well as did their riders, and it was a frequent 
occurrence to see a horse, when his rider had been dismounted 



SCATTERING SHOTS. 



329 



by some means, resume his place in line or column without 
him, seemingly not wishing to be left behind. This quality 
was often illustrated when a poor, crippled, or generally used- 
up beast, which had been turned out to die, would attempt 
to hobble along in his misery and join a column as it 
passed. 

Captain W. S. Davis, a member of General Griffin's staff 
of the Fifth Corps, rode a horse which had the very singular 
but horse-sensible habit of sitting down on his haunches, like a 
dog, after his rider had dismounted. One moi'iiing he was 
missing, and nothing was seen of him for months ; but one 
night, after the corps had encamped, some of the men, who 
knew the horse, in looking off towards the horizon, saw 
against the sky a silhouette of a horse sitting down. It was 
at once declared to be the missing brute, and Captain Davis, 
on being informed, recovered his eccentric but highly prized 
animal. 




CHAPTER XVIII. 



BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 



" And now conies ' boots and saddles ! ' Oh ! there's hurrying to and fro, 
And saddling up in busy haste — for what, we do not know. 
Sometimes 'twas but a false alarm, sometimes it meant a tight; 
Sometimes it came in daytime, and sometimes it came at night." 

PIE subject of this chapter is a 
very suo-o-estive one to the old 
soldier. It covers a whole 
realm of experience which it 
would be nearly impossible to 
exhaust. But there is much 
in this as in other experiences 
whicli was common to all long- 
term veterans, and to this com- 
mon experience more especially 
I shall address my attention. 

From the descriptions which 
I have already given of the 
various kinds of shelter used by the soldiers it will be read- 
ily understood that they got the most comfortably settled 
in their winter-quarters, and that in a small way each hut 
became a miniature homestead, and for the time being pos- 
sessed, to a certain extent, all the attractions of home. The 
bunk, the stools, and other furniture, the army bric-a-brac, 
whether captured or of home production, which adorned 
the rougfh tenement within and without, all came to have a 
value by association in the soldier's thought, a value which 
was not fully computed till campaigning impended — that 
usually direful day, when marching orders came and the 
boys folded their tents and marched away. This sketch 

330 




BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MAliCIf. 331 

will relate something of army life as it was lived after march- 
ing orders were received. 

When the general commanding an army had decided 
upon a plan of campaign, and the proper time came to put it 
in operation, he at once issued his orders to his subordinate 
commanders to have their commands ready to take their 
place in column at a given hour on a given day. These 
orders came down through the various corps, division, bri- 
gade, regimental, or battery headquarters to the rank and 
file, whose instructions given them on line would be to the 
effect that at the stated liour they were to be ready to start 
with three days' rations in their haversacks (this was the 
usual quantity), the infantry to have forty rounds of ammu- 
nition in their cartridge-boxes. This latter quantity was 
very often exceeded. The Army of the Potomac went into 
the Wilderness having from eighty to a hundred rounds of 
ammunition to a man, stowed away in knapsacks, haver- 
sacks, or pockets, according to the space afforded, and six 
days' rations similarly disposed of. When Hooker started 
on the Chancellorsville Campaign, eleven days' rations were 
issued to the troops. 

Sometimes marching orders came when least expected. I 
remember to have heard the long roll sounded one Saturday 
forenoon in the camp of the infantry that lay near us in the 
fall of '63*; it was October 10. Our guns were unlimbered 
for action just outside of camp where we had been hdng 
several days utterly unsuspicious of danger. It was quite a 
surprise to us ; and such Lee intended it to be, he having 
set out to put himself between our army and Washington. 
We were not attacked, but started to the rear a few hours 
afterwards. 

Before the opening of the spring campaign a reasonable 
notice was generally given. There was one orderly from 
each brigade headquarters who almost infallibly brought 
marching orders. The men knew the nature of the tidings 
which he cantered up to regimental headquarters v/ith under 



532 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



liis belt. Very often they would good-naturedly rail at hira as 
he rode into and out of camp, thus indicating their dislike 
of his errand; but the wise ones went directly to quarters 
and began to pack up. 

When it was officially announced to the men on line at 
night that marching orders were received, and that at such 
an hour next morning tents would be struck and the men in 




PACKING UP. 



place, equipped and provided as already stated, those men 
who had not already decided the question retired to their 
huts and took an account of stock in order to decide what to 
take and what to leave. As a soldier would lay out two 
articles on the bunk, of equally tender associations, one could 
seem to hear him murmur, with Gay, 

" How happy could I be with either 
Were t'other dear charmer away." 

as he endeavored to choose between them, knowing too well 
that both could not be taken. The "survival of the fittest "■ 



BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 333 

was the question, which received deeper and tenderer con- 
sideration here in one evening; than Darwin has ever ofiven it 
in the same time. Then, there was the overcoat and the 
woollen blanket which should be left? Perhaps he finally- 
decided to try taking both along for a while. He will leave 
the dress-coat and wear the blouse. He has two changes of 
flannels. He will throw away those he has on, don a clean 
set and take a change with him. These flannels, by the way, 
if they were what he drew from the government stores, were 
often as rough to the skin as coarse sand-paper, which they 
somew^hat resembled in color. 

From the head of his bunk lie takes a collection of old let- 
ters which have accumulated during the winter. These he 
looks over one by one and commits to the flames with a sigh. 
Many of them are letters from home ; some are from acquaint- 
ances. Possibly he read the Waverly Magazine., and may 
have carried on a correspondence with one or more of the 
many young women who advertised in it for a "soldier cor- 
respo])dent, who must not be over twenty," with all the virtues 
namable. There w^as no man in my company — from old 
Graylocks, of nearly sixty, down to the callow "chicken" of 
seventeen — but what felt qualified to fill such a bill, "just 
for the fun of it, a'ou know." The young woman was 
generally "eighteen, of prepossessing appearance, good 
education, and would exchange photographs if desired." 

An occasional letter from such a quarter would provoke a 
smile as tlie soldier glanced at its source and contents Ijefore 
committing it to the yawn of his army fireplace. This rather 
impleasant task completed, he continues his researches and 
work of destruction. He tucks his little collection of photo- 
graphs, which perhaps he has encased in rubber or leather, 
into an inside pocket, and disposes other small keepsakes 
about his person. If he intends to take his effects in a knap- 
sack, he will at tlie start have put by more to carry than if he 
simply takes his blankets (rubber and woollen) rolled and 
slunsf over his shoulder. Late in the war this latter Avas the 



334 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

most common plan, as the same weight coukl be borne with 
less fatigue in that manner than in a knapsack, slung on the 
back. 

I have assumed it to be evening or late afternoon when 
marching orders arrived, and have thus far related what the 
average soldier was wont to do immediately afterwards. 
There was a night ahead and the soldiers were wont to 
" make a night of it." As a rule, there was little sleep to be 
had, the enforcement of the usual rules of camp being relaxed 
on such an occasion. Aside from the labor of personal pack- 
ing and destroying, 'the rations were to be distributed, and 
each company had to fall into line, march to the cook-house, 
and receive their three or more days' allowance of hardtack, 
pork, coffee, and sugar, all of which they must stowaway, as 
compactly as possible, in the haversack or elsewhere if they 
wanted them. In the artillery, besides securing the rations, 
sacks of grain — usually oats — must be taken from the grain- 
pile and strapped on to the ammunition-chests for the liorses; 
the axles must be greased, good spare horses selected to sup- 
ply the vacancies in any teams where the horses were unfit 
for duty ; the tents of regimental headquarters must be 
struck, likewise the , cook-tents, and these, with oflicers' 
baggage, must be put into the wagons which are to join the 
trains : — in brief, everything must be prepared for the march 
of the morrow. 

After this routine of preparation was completed, camp-fires 
were lighted, and about them would gather the happy-go-lucky 
boys of the rank and file, whose merry din would speedily stir 
the blood of the men who had hoped for a few hours' sleep 
before starting out on the morrow, to come out of their huts 
and join the jovial round ; and soon they were as happy as 
the happiest, even if more reticent. As the fire died down 
and the soldiers drew closer about it, some comrade would 
go to his hut, and, with an armful of its furniture, the stools, 
closets, and tables I have spoken of, reillumine and en- 
liven the scene and drive back the circle of bystanders again. 



BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 



335 



The conversation, which, with the going clown of tlie fire, 
was lilcely to take on a somewhat sober asjiect, would again 
assume a more cheerful strain. For a time conjectures on 
the plan of the coming compaign would be exchanged. 
Volumes of wisdom concerning what ought to be done changed 
hands at these camp-fires, mingled with much "I told you 
so " about the last battle. Alexanders simply swarmed, so 







WAITING FOR MAKCHING ORDERS. 



numerous were those who could solve the Gordian knot of 
success at sight. It must interest those strategists now, as 
they read history, to see how little they really knew of what 
was taking place. 

When this slight matter of the proper thing for the army 
to do was disposed of, some one would start a song, and then 
for an hour at least " John Brown's Body," " Marching 
Along,^' " Red, White, and Blue," " Rally 'round the Flag," 
and other popular and familiar songs would ring out on the 
clear evening air, following along in quick succession, and 
sung with great earnestness and enthusiasm as the chorus was 



336 



BAUD TACK AND COFFEE. 



increased by additions from neighboring camp-fires, until tired 
Nature began to assert herself, when one by one the company 
would withdraw, each going to his hut for two or three 
hours' rest, if possible, to partially prepare him for the toils 
of the morrow. Ah! is not that an all-wise provision of 
Providence which keeps the future a sealed book, placing it 
before us leaf by leaf only, as the present ? For some of 
these very men, it may have been, whose voices rang out so 
merrily at that camp-fire, would lie cold and pale ere tlie 
week should close, in the solemn stillness of death. 

But morning dawned all too soon for those who gave up 
most of the night to hilarity, and all were summoned forth 
at the call of the bugle or the drum, and at a time agreed 
upon Tlie General was sounded. 



Presto. 



The Geneeal. 




:t=tt 



-|— I \- 0-m-m—»-m -m-\- m~0-0—m-m -m- 



t^ 



-^- 






^|g^E^g3Efes3:l=l 



•-•- -•-#-•- -•- 



-•-•-•- -<&- 



The above is the General of infantry. That of the artil- 
lery was less often used and entirely different. 

At this signal, every tent in a regiment v/as struck. It 
was quite an interesting siglit to see several acres of canvas 
disappear in a moment, where before it had been the jjromi- 
nent feature in the landscape. As a fact, I believe the 
General was little used in the latter part of the war. For 
about two years, when the troops were sheltered by the 
Sibley, Wedge, and Wall tents, it was necessary to have 
them struck at an early hour, in order tliat they might bs 
packed away in tlie wagon-train. But after the Shelter tent 




ARTILLERY 



q'r. MASTER. CORPS H^Oq^RS. BRIGADE. 




MCINDOE BROS-, PRINTERS. BOSTON 



BREAKING CAMP. — OX THE MARCH. 337 

came into use, and each man was his own wagon, the 
General was seldom heard unless at the end of a long en- 
campment ; for, when marching orders came, each man 
understood that he must be ready at the hour appointed, 
even if his regiment waited another day before it left 
camp. 

No more provoking incident of army life happened, I 
believe, than for a regiment to wait in camp long after the 
hour appointed to march. But such was the rule rather 
than the exception. ^Nlany a man's hearth-stone was then 
desolate, for if the hour of departure was set for the morn- 
ing, when morning came and the stockade was vacated, it 
often suffered demolition to increase the heat of the camp- 
fires, as previously noted. But as hour after hour wore on, 
and men still found themselves in camp with nothing to do 
and plenty of help, they began to wish that they had not 
been so hasty in breaking up housekeeping and tearing 
down tlieir shanties, else they might resort to them and 
make their wait a little more endurable. Especially did 
they repent if rain came on as they lingered, or if night 
again overtook them there VN^ith their huts untenable, for it 
would have been the work of only a moment to re-cover 
them with the Shelter tents. Such waits and their conse- 
quences Avere severe tests to the })atience of the men, and 
sometimes seemed to work more injury to their morals tlian 
the average army chaplain could repair in days. 

But there is an end to all things earthly, this being no 
exception. The colors of corps headquarters borne at the 
heels of the corps commander, and followed by his staff, are 
at last seen moving into the road. The bugler of the divis- 
ion having the lead sounds the call Attention. 



Attention. 
Allegro. 



338 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



This call is tlie Attention of infantry at which the men, 
alread}^ in column, take their places, officers mount, and all 
await the next call, which is 



Forward. 




D.C. 



--t:: 



:t=: 



-H 1 1 



At this signal tlie reg^iments take " ricrht shoulder shift," 
and the march begins. Let the reader, in imagination, take 
post by the roadside as the column goes by. Take a look at 
corps headquarters. The commander is a major-general. 
His staff comprises an assistant adjutant-general, an as- 
sistant inspector-general, a topographical engineer, a com- 
missary of musters, a commissary of subsistence, a judge- 
advocate, several aides-de-camp — and perhaps other officers, 
of varying rank. Those mentioned usually ranked from 
colonel to captain. In the Union army, major-generals 
might command either a division, a corps, or an army, but in 
the Confederate service each army of importance was com- 
manded by a lieutenant-general. Take a look at the corps 
headquarters flag. Feb. 7, 1863, General Hooker deci'eed 
the flags of corps headquarters to be a blue swallow-tail 
field bearing a white Maltese cross, liaving in the centre tlie 
number of the corps ; but, so far as I can learn, this decree 
was never enforced in a single instance. Mr. James Beale, 
in his exceedingly valuable and unique volume, '"The 
Union Flags at Gettysburg," shows a nondescript cross on 
some of the headquarters flags, which some qiuirtermaster 
may have intended as a compliance with Hooker's order; 
but though true copies of originals they are monstrosities, 
which never could have had existence in a well ordered 
brain, and which have no warrant in heraldry or general 



BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 339 

orders as far as can be ascertained. When the army en- 
tered upon the Wilderness Campaign, each corps headquar- 
ters floated a blue swallow-tailed flag bearing its own partic- 
ular emblem in white, in the centre of which was the figure 
designating the corps, in red. 

Here comes the First Division. At the head rides its 
general commanding and stafl". Behind him is the color- 
bearer, carrying tlie division flag. If you are familiar Avith 
the corps badges, you will not need to ask what corps or 
division it is. The men's caps tell the story, but the flags 
are equally plain-spoken. 

This flag is the first division color. It is rectangular in 
shape. The corps emblem is red in a white field; the 
second has the emblem white in a blue field ; the third has 
the emblem blue in a white field. The divisions had the 
lead of the corps ou the march by turns, changing each 
day. 

But here comes another headquarters. The color-bearer 
carries a tria^igular flag. That is a brigade flag. May 12, 
1863, General Hooker issued an order prescribing division 
flags of the pattern I have described, and also designated 
what the brigade flags should be. They were to be, first of 
all, triangular in shape ; the brigades of the fii'st division 
should bear the corps symbol in red in the centre of a white 
field, but, to distinguish them, the first brigade should have 
no other mark; the second should liave a blue stripe next 
the staff, and the third a blue border four and one-half 
inches wide around the flag. 

Tlie brigades of the second division had the corps symbol 
in white in the centre of a blue field, with a red stripe next 
the staff to designate the second brigade, and a red border 
the third. 

The third division had its brigades similarly designated, 
with the symbol bbie, the field white, and the stripes red. 

Whenever there was a fourth brigade, it was designated by 
a triangular block of color in each corner of the flag. 



340 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 

The chief quartermaster of tlie cor2:)S and the chief of 
artillery had each his appropriate flag, as designated in the 
color-plate, but the arrangement of the colors in the Hag of 
the chief quartermasters differed in different corps. 

This scheme of Hooker's, for distinguishing corps, division, 
and brigade headquarters remained unchanged till the end 
of the war. 

The brigades took turns in having the lead — or, as mili- 
tary men say, the right — of the division, and regiments had 
the right of brigades by turns. 

There goes army headquarters yonder — the command- 
ing general, with his numerous staff — making for the head 
of the column. His flag is the simple star-spangled banner. 
The stars and stripes were a common flag for army head- 
quarters. It was General Meade's headquarters Hag till 
Grant came to the Army of the Potomac, who also used it 
for that purpose. This made it necessary for Meade to 
change, which he did, finally adopting a lilac-colored swal- 
low-tail flag, about the size of the corps headquarters flags, 
having in the field a wreath enclosing an eagle, in gold. 

You can easily count the regiments in column by their 
United States colors. A few of them, you will notice, have a 
battle-flag, bearing the names of the engagements in which 
they have participated. Some regiments used the national 
colors for a battle-Hag, some the state colors. I think the vol- 
unteers did not adopt tlie idea early in the war. Originally 
battles were only inscribed on flags by authority of the 
secretary of war, that is, in the regular army. But the 
volunteers seemed to be a law unto themselves, and, while 
many flags in existence to-day bear names of battles in- 
scribed by order of the commanding general, there are some 
with inscriptions of battles which the trooj^s were hardly in 
hearing of. The Rebel battle-flag was a blue spangled 
saltier in a red field, and originated with General Joe John- 
ston after the first Bull Run. 

You -will have little difficulty in deciding where a regi- 



BREAKING CAMP. — ON TUE MARCH. 341 

meiit begins or ends. It begins with a field officer and ends 
with a nmle. Originally it ended with several army wagons ; 
but now that portion of regimental headquarters baggage 
which has not gone to the wagon-train is to be found 
stowed about the mule, that is led along by a contraband. 
Yes, the head, ears, and feet which you see are the only 
visible externals of a mule. He is '' clothed upon " with 
the various materials necessary to prepare a - square meal " . 
for the colonel and other headquarters officers. His trap- 
pings would, seemingly,, fit out a small family in houseiiold 
goods of a kind. There is a mess-kettle, a fry-pan, mess- 
pans, tent-poles, a fly (canvas), a valise, a knapsack and 
haversack, a hamper on each side, a musket, and other mat- 
ter which goes to make the burden at least twice the size of 
the animal. Four mules were regarded as having tlie carry- 
ing capacity of one army wagon. At the end of the brigade 
you will see two or three of these mules burdened with the 
belongings of brigade headquarters. 

The mule had other company than the negro ofttimes. 
That man who seems to be flour and grease from head to 
heels, who needs no shelter nor rubber blanket because he 
is waterproof already, perhaps, inside and out, whose 
shabby, well-stuffed knapsack furnishes the complement 
to the mule's lading, who shuffles along with - no style 
about him," is the cook, perhaps, for the regiment, probably 
for headquarters, certainly not for Delmonico. It is singu- 
lar, but none the less true, that if a man made a slovenly, 
indifferent soldier he was fully as likely to get a berth in 
the cook-house as to have any other fate befall hini. This 
remark applies to men who drifted into tlie business of 
''army caterer" after trying other service, and not those 
who entered at once upon it. 

Here comes a light battery at the rear of the division. 
Possibly it is to remain with this part of the corps for the 
campaign. Such was sometimes the case, but later a battery 
was often used anywhere within the limits of a corps that 



342 HAIW TACK AND COFFEE. 

it could be of advantage. This battery lias six brass Napo- 
leons, 12-pounders. They are very destructive at sliort 
range. It is followed by a battery of steel guns. They 
are Parrots, three-inch rifles ; best for long range, but good 
anywhere. Not so safe for close action, however, as the 
Napoleons. 

Yonder you can see the Second Division moving across 
the fields, made up like the one just passed. It will close in 
upon the rear of this division farther up the road. What an 
interesting spectacle it presents, the bright sunlight glint- 
ing from the thousands of polished muskets, the moving 
masses of light and dark blue inching along over the uneven 
ground, the various flags streaming proudly in the air, 
marking oft' the separate brigades and regiments. The 
column is moving at a moderate pace. It takes some time 
for a corps to get under way. If we wait long enough, the 
Third Division, made up like the others, will pass by us, 
unless it has gone on a parallel road. 

It is growing warmer. The column has now got straight- 
ened out, and for the last hour has moved forward quite 
rapidly. The road is evidently clear of all obstructions, but 
the heat and speed begin to tell on the men. Look at the 
ground which that brigade has just vacated aftei- its brief 
halt for rest. It is strewn with blankets, overcoats, dress- 
coats, pantaloons, sliirts — in fact, a little of everything from 
the outfit of the common soldier. As the Second Corps 
advanced into the Wilderness on the morning of May 4, 
1864, I saw an area of an acre or more almost literally 
covered with the articles above named, many of them prob- 
ably extras, but some of them the sole garment of their 
kind, left by the owners, who felt compelled, from the in- 
creasing weight of their load, to lighten it to the extent of 
parting with the blankets which they would need that very 
night for shelter. This lightening of the load began before 
the columns had been on the road an hour. A soldier who 
had been through the mill would not wait for a general 



BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 



o4o 



halt to occur before parting with a })ortioii of his k)ad, if it 
oppressed him; but a recruit would hang- to his until he 
bent over at an angle of 45° from a vertical, with his eyes 
staring, his lower jaw hanging, and his face dripping with 
moisture. If you were to follow the column after, say, the 
first two miles, you would 
find various articles scat- 
tered along at intervals by 
the roadside, where a sol- 
dier quietly stepped out 
of the I'anks, sat down, un- 
slung liis knapsack or his 
blanket-roll, took out what 
he liad decided to throw 
away, again equipped him- 
self, and, thus relieved, 
hastened on to overtake 
the regiment. It did not 
take an army long to get 
into light marching order 
after it was once fairly on 
the road. 

I have been dealing with 
the first day out of set- 
tled camp. On subsequent 
days, of course the same 
programme would not be 
enacted. And, again, if a 
man clung to his effects 
till noon, he was likely to 
do so for tiie day, as after 
noon the thought of shel- 
ter for the night nerved 

him to hold on. But men would drop out in the afternoon 
of the first day for another reason. They blistered or chafed 
their feet and sat down at the first stream to bathe them, 




A FOOTSORE STRAGGLER. 



344 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

after wliicli, if the weather admitted, they could be seen 
plodding along barefooted, their pantaloons rolled up a few 
inches, and their shoes dangling at the end of their musket- 
barrel. 

Then, this very crossing of a stream often furnished an 
interesting scene in the march of the column. A river 
broad and deep would be spanned by a pontoon bridge, but 
the common creeks of the South were crossed by fording. 
Once in a while (in warm weather) the men would take off 
most of their clothing and carry it with their equip- 
ments across on tlieir heads. It was no uncommon 
exjierience for them to ford streams waist-deep, even 
in cool weather. If the bottom was a treacherous one, 
and the current rapid, a line of cavalry-men was placed 
across the river just below the column to pick up such men 
as should lose their footing. jNIany were the mishaps of such 
a crossing, and, unless the enemy was at hand, the first 
thing to be done after reaching shore was to strip and 
wrinq; out such clothins; i^s needed it. With those who had 
slijiped and fallen this meant all they had on and what was 
in their knapsack besides, but with most it included only 
trousers, drawers, and socks. 

After the halt w'hicli allowed the soldiers time to perform 
this bit of laundry work had ended, and the column moved 
along, it was not an uncommon sight to see muskets used as 
clothes-lines, from which depended socks, shoes, here and 
there a shirt, perhaps a towel or handkerchief. But if the 
weather was cool the wash did not hang out in this way. 
When it became necessary to cross a stream in the night, 
huge fires were built on its banks, with a picket at hand, 
whose duty it was to keep tliem burning until daylight, or 
until the army had crossed. A greater number of mis- 
haps occurred in fording by night than by day even then. 
During Meade's retreat from Culpeper, in the fall of 1863, 
— it was the night of October 11, — my company forded the 
Rappahannock after dark, and went into camp a few rods 



BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 



345 



away from tlie ford ; and I remember what a jolly night the 
troops made of it when they came to this ford. At short 
intervals I was awakened from slumber b}^ the laughter or 
cheers of the waders, as they made merry at the expense of 
some of their number, who came out after immersion usino- 
language which plainly indicated their disbelief in that kind 
of baptism. Here was the field for the tired, overloaded 




"headquarters" in trouble. 



headquarters mule to display his obstinacy to a large and 
changing audience, by getting midway of the stream and 
refusing to budge. I can see the frenzied Ethiopian in 
charge, now, waist-deep in water, wild with despair at the 
situation, alternating reasoning with pulling and beating, 
while the brute lies down in the stream all encumbered with 
the baggage, the passing column jeering poor Sambo, and 
making the adjacent woodland echo with their loud guffaws 
at his helpless yet laughable condition. 

That was a noisy night, and it has always been a matter of 
wonder to me that we remained undisturbed, with the enemy 
less than three miles up the river, as General Birney, with 
whom we then were, has left on record. Tiiere was no stop- 
ping to wring out. But " close up ! " was the order after 



346 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 

crossing, and the dull rattle made by the equipments, the 
striking of the coftee dipper on the canteen or buckles, as the 
column glided along in the darkness, or the whipping-up of 
belated mule-teams, was heard until the gray of morning 
appeared. 

The army on the march in a rain-storm presented some 
aspects not seen in fair weather. As soon as it began to 
rain, or just before, each man would remove his rubber 
blanket from his roll or knapsack, and put it over his 
shoulders, tying it in front. Some men used their slielter 
tent instead — a very poor substitute, however. But there 
was no fun in the marching business during the rain. It 
might settle the dust. It certainl}- settled about everything 
else. An order to go into camp while the rain was in 
progress was not much of an improvement, for the ground 
was wet, fence-rails were wet, one's woollen blanket was 
likely also to be wet, hardtack in the haversack wet — in 
fact, nothing so abundant and out of place as water. I re- 
member geing into camp one night in particular, in Pleasant 
Valley, Md., on a side-hill during a drenching rain, such as 
mountain regions know, and lying down under a hastily 
pitched shelter, with the water coursing freely along beneath 
me. I was fresh as a soldier then, and this experience, seem- 
ing so dreadful then, made a strong impression. Such situa- 
tions were too numerous afterwards to make note of even in 
memory. 

Then, the horses I It made them ugly and vicious to 
stand in the pelting rain at the picket-rope. I think they 
preferred being in harness on the road. But they were 
likely to get subdued the next day, when sloughs and mire 
were the rule. If two corps took the same road after a 
storm, the worse for the hindermost, for it found deep ruts 
and mud-holes in abundance ; and as it dragged forward it 
would come upon some piece of artillery or caisson in the 
mire to the hubs, doomed to stay, in spite of the shoutings 
and lashings of the drivers, the swearing of the officers, and 



BREAKING CAMP. —ON THE MARCH. 



347 



the lifting and straining of mnd-bedraggled cannoneers, 
until six more horses were added to extricate it. Anon the 
corps would arrive at a place utterly impassable, when down 
would go the fence by the roadside, if there was one, and 
out would go the column into the field skirting tlie road, 
returning again be^^ond the mire. At anotlier slougli, a staff 
officer might be found posted to direct the artillery where to 
make a safe passage. 

Such places by night were generally lighted by fires built 
for that purpose. I remember such a spot in particular — a 




THE FLANKERS. 



reminiscence of the Mine Run Campaign ; I think it was the 
night of Dec. 4, 1863. My battery was then attached to 
the Third Division of the Tliird Corps. B}^ the edge of the 
slough in question sat General J. B. Carr, the division com- 
mander, with a portion of his command near by, and, as a 
caisson went down in the mire, he called in his "Blue Dia- 
monds" to lift it out, which they did right manfully. Tliere 
was no turning into fields that night, for, while the roads 
were soft, the fields were softer, and worse travelling I be- 
lieve the Army of the Potomac never saw, unless on the 
" Mud March." 

When the army was expecting to run against the enemy 



348 



HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 



in its ad\ance, flankers were tlirovvii out on either side of the 
column. These flankers were a single file of soldiers, wJio 
marched along a few feet a[)art parallel to the column, and 
perhaps ten or twelve rods distant from it in open country, 
but not more than half that distance when it was marchino- 
througli woods. In the event of an attack, the Hankers on 
that side became the skirmish line in action. 

It was an interesting sight to see a column break up when 
the order came to halt, whether for rest or other i-eason. It 
would melt in a moment, dividing to the right and left, and 
scattering to the sides of the road, where the men would sit 
down or lie down, lying back on their knapsacks if they had 
them, or stretching at full length on the ground. If the lat- 
ter was wet or muddy, cannoneers sat on their carriages and 
limber-chests, while infantrymen would perhaps sit astride 
their muskets, if the halt was a short one. Wlien the halt was 
expected to continue for some considerable time the troops 




of a corps or division were massed, that is, brought together 
in some large open tract of territory, when the muskets 
would be stacked, the equipments laid off, and each man 
rush for the "top rail" of the nearest fence, until not a rail 
remained. The coffee would soon begin to simmer, the pork 
to sputter in the flames, and, when the march was resumed^ 
the men would start off refreshed with rest and rations. 



BREAKING CAMP. — ON THE MARCH. 349 

But if the halt was for a few minutes onl}^ and the march- 
ing had not been relieved by the regular rests usually al- 
lowed, the men stiffened up so much that, with their equip- 
ments on, they could hardly arise without assistance, and, 
goaded by their stiffened cords and tired muscles and 
swollen or chafed feet, made wry faces for the first few rods 
after the column started. In this manner they plodded on 
until ordered into camp for the night, or perhaps double- 
quicked into line of battle. 

During that dismal night retreat of the Army of the 
Potomac from Chancellorsville, a little event occurred which 
showed what a choleric man General Meade was on occa- 
sion, and to what an exhausted bodily condition the rigors 
of a campaign often reduced men. While the general was 
sitting with General Warren at one of those camp-tires 
always found along the line of march after nightfall, a poor 
jaded, mud-bedraggled infantrymen came straggling and 
stumbling along the roadside, scarcely able, in his wet and 
wearied condition, to bear up under his burden of musket 
and equipments. As he staggered past the camp-fire, he 
struck, by the merest accident, against General Meade, who 
jumped immediately to his feet, drew his sabre, and made a 
lunge at the innocent offender, which sent him staggering to 
the ground. There he lay motionless, as if dead. At once 
Meade began to upbraid himself for his hasty temper, and 
seemed filled with remorse for what he had done. Whereat 
General Warren made efforts to calm his fears by telling him 
it was probably not as serious as he supposed, and tliereupon 
began to make investigation of tlie nature of the injury done 
the prostrate veteran. To General ^Meade's great gratifica- 
tion, it was found that while his sabre had cut through the 
man's clothing, it had only grazed his side witliout drawing 
blood, but so completely worn out had the soldier become 
through the exactions of the recent campaign that matter 
dominated mind, and he lay in a double sense as if dust had 
returned to dust. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

AEMY WAGON-TRAINS. 

" That every man who swears once drove a mule 
Is not believed by any but a fool ; 
But whosoe'er drove mules and did not swear 
Can be relied on for an honest prayer." 



EFORE giving a histoiy 
of the wagon-trains which 
formed a part, and a nec- 
essary part, of every army, 
I will briefly refer to what 
was known as " Grant's 
Military Railroad," which 
M-as really a railroad built 
for the army, and used 
solely by it. When the 
Army of the Potomac 
appeared before Peters- 
burg, City Point, on the 
James River, was made 
army headquarters and the "base of supplies," that is, the 
place to which supplies were brought from the North, and 
from which they were distributed to the various portions of 
-the army. The Lyncliburg or Soutliside Raih-oad enters 
Petersburg from the west, and' a short railroad, known as 
the City Point Railroad, connects it with City Point, ten 
miles eastward. Tlie greater portion of this ten miles fell 
'witliin the Union lines after our army appeared before 
Petersburg, and, as these lines were extended westward after 
the siege was determined upon, Grant conceived the plan of 

350 




ARMY WAGON-TRAINS. 351 

running a railroad iusitle our fortifications to save botli time 
and mule-flesh in distributing supplies along the line. It 
was soon done. About five miles of the City Point road 
were used, from which the new road extended to the south- 
west, perhaps ten miles, striking the Weldon Railroad, 
which had been wrested from the enem3^ Down this the 
trains ran three miles; then a new branch of about two 
miles more to the west took them to the left of the Union 

lines. 

Of course, there were stations along this road at which 
supplies were left for those troops near by. These stations 
were named after different generals of the army. Meade 
and Patrick stations are two names which yet linger in my 
memory, near each of which my company was at some time 
located. The trains on this road were visible to the enemy 
for a time as they crossed an open plain in their trips, and 
brought upon themselves quite a lively shelling, resulting in 
no damage, I believe, but still making railroading so uncom- 
fortable that a high embankment of earth was thrown up, 
which completely covered the engine and cars as they rolled 
along, and which still stands as a monument to the labors 
of the pick-and-shovel brigade. This railroad was what is 
known as a surface road, by which is meant that there were 
no cuts made, the track being laid on the natural surface of 
the ground. When a marsh was met with, instead of filHng, 
the enghieers built a trestling. The effect of such railroad- 
ing to the eye was quite picturesque, as a train wound its 
serpentine course along the country, up hill and down dale, 
appearing much as if it had jumped the track, and was going 
across lots to its destination. 

But the trains of the army were w-a^'ow-trains, and so little 
has been written about them in histories of the war that a 
limited sketch in this volume will have interest for many 

readers. 

Tlie trains belong to what is known in French as the 
materiel of the army, in distinction from the personnel, the 



352 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



men employed. In Roman history we frequently find the bag- 
gage-trains of the army alluded to as the impedimenta. The 
materiel., then, or impedi^nenta., of our armies has, very 
naturally, been ignored by the historian ; for the personnel, 
the actors, are of so much more consequence, they have 

absorbed the interest of both 
writers and readers. I say 
the persons are of much more 
consequence, but I must not 
be understood as belittling 
the importance of the trains. 
An army without its varied 
supplies, which the trains 
care for and provide, would 
soon be neither useful nor 
ornamental. In fact, an army 
is like a piece of machinery, 
each part of which is indis- 
pensable to every other part. 
I presume every one of 
mature years has an idea of 
wliat army wagons look like. 
They were heavy, lumbering 
affairs at best, built for hard 
service, all, apparently, after 
the same pattern, each one having its tool-box in front, 
its feed trougli behind, which, in camp, was placed length- 
wise of the pole ; its spare pole suspended at the side ; its 
wooden bucket for water, and iron " slush-bucket " for 
grease, lianging from the hind axle ; and its canvas cover, 
which when closely drawn in front and rear, as it always 
was on the march, made quite a satisfactory " close car- 
riage." As a pleasure carriage, however, they were not 
considered a success. When the Third Corps was winter- 
ing at Brandy Station in 1863-4 the concert troupe, which 
my company boasted was engaged to give a week of evening 




A MULE DRIVER. 



AEMY WAGON-TBAINS. 353 

entertainments not far from Culpeper, in a large hex- 
ao-onal stockade, which would seat six or seven hundred 
persons, and which had been erected for the purpose by 
one Lieutenant Lee, then on either General French's or 
General Birney's staff — I cannot now say which. To convey 
ns thither over the intervening distance of four or five miles, 
as I now remember, we hired a mule-driver with his arm}^ 
wagon. More than twenty-three years have since elapsed, but 
those twelve or fourteen rides, after dark, across the rough 
country and frozen ground around Brandy Station were 
so thoroughly jolted into my memory that I shall never 
forget them. The seven dollars apiece per night which 
we received for our services was but a trifling compen- 
sation for the battering and mellowing we endured en 
route, and no more than paid for wear and tear. No 
harder vehicle can be found to take a ride in than an army 
wagon. 

By some stroke of good luck, or, perhaps, good manage- 
ment, many of the regiments from New England took their 
transportation along wdth them. It consisted, in many 
cases, of twenty-five wagons, two for each company, and five 
for regimental headquarters. These were drawn at first by 
four horses, but afterwards by six mules. A light battery 
had three such wagons. They were designed to carry the 
baggage of the troops, and when a march was ordered they 
Avere filled with tents, stoves, kettles, pans, chairs, desks, 
trunks, valises, knapsacks, boards, — in fact, whatever con- 
veniences had accumulated about the camps. 

General Sherman, in his Memoirs (vol. i. p. 178), describes 
very graphically the troops he saw about Washington in '61, 
as follows : — 

" Their uniforms were as various as the states and cities 
from which they came ; their arms were also of every pattern 
and calibre ; and they were so loaded down with overcoats, 
haversacks, knapsacks, tents, and baggage, that it took from 
twenty-five to fifty wagons to move the camp of a regiment 



354 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 

from one place to another, and some of the camps had liaker- 
ies and cooking establishments that would liave done credit 
to Delmonico." 

General Sherman might have seen much the same situa- 
tion near Washington even in '62 and "63. Every company in 
a regiment located in the defences of the capital city had 
one or more large cook-stoves with other appointments to 
match, and when they moved only a few miles they took all 
their lares and penates with them. This could then be done 
without detriment to the service. It was only when they 
attempted to carry everything along in active campaigning 
that trouble ensued. 

In October, 1861, McClellan issued an order which con- 
tained the following provisions : — 

'' 1. No soldiers shall ride in loaded bao-o-acre-wao'ons under 
any circumstances, nor in empty wagons unless by special in- 
structions to that effect. 

" 2. Knapsacks shall not be carried in the wagons except 
on the written recommendation of the surgeon, whicli sliall 
be given in case of sickness. 

" 3. Tent-floors shall not be transported in public wagons, 
and hereafter no lumber shall be issued for tent-lioors except 
upon the recommendation of the medical director for hospital 
purposes." 

This order was issued before the corps Avere organized, 
while the wagons were yet with tlieir regiments, and while 
the men yet had their big knapsacks, which they were 
always ready to ride with or toss into a wagon when tlie 
regiment moved. This was the time of transporting tent- 
iioors, the luxurious fault-finding period before carpets, 
feather-beds, and roast beef had entirely lost their charm ; 
when each man was, in his own way and belief, fully the 
size of a major-general ; when the medical director of the 
army had time, unaided as yet by subordinates, to decide 
the question of tent-floors versus no tent-floors for individuals. 
Ah, the freshness and flavor of those early Avar days come back 



AliMY WAGON-TRAINS. 355 

to me as I write — each day big \A' ith importance, as our 
letters, yet preserved to us, so faithfully record. 

Not many months elapsed before it became apparent that 
the necessities of stern warfare would not permit and should 
not have so many of the equipments of civil life, when the 
shelter tent, already described, took the place of the larger 
varieties; when camp-fires superseded the stoves, and many 
other comfortable but unnecessary furnishings disappeared 
from the baggage. Not how Uftle but how much could be 
dispensed with then became the question of the hour. The 
trains must be reduced in size, and they must be moved in a 
manner not to hamper tlie troops, if possible ; but the war 
was more than half finished before they were brought into a 
satisfactory system of operation. 

The greater number of the three-years regiments that 
arrived in Washington in 1861 brought no transportation of 
any kind. After McClellan assumed command, a depot of 
transportatioyi was established at Perryville on the Susque- 
hanna ; by this is meant a station where wagons and 
ambulances were kept, and from which they were sup- 
plied. 

From there Captain Sawtell, now colonel and brevet briga- 
dier general U. S. A., fitted out regiments as rapidly as he 
could, giving each dx wagons instead of twenty-five, one of 
Avliich was for medical supplies. Some regiments, however, 
by influence or favor at court, got more than that. A few 
wagons were sup[)lied from the quartermaster's depot at 
Washington. A quartermaster is an officer whose duty it is 
to provide quarters, provisions, clothing, fuel, storage, and 
transportation for an army. The chief officer in the quar- 
itermaster's department is known as the quartermaster- 
'general. There was a chief quartermaster of tlie army, and 
a chief quartermaster to each corps and division ; then, there 
were brigade and regimental quartermasters, and finally 
the quartermaster-sergeants, all attending in their appropri- 
ate spheres to the special duties of this department. 



^56 UAHD TACK AND COFFEE. 

During the march of the army up the Peninsula in 1862, 
the fighting force advanced by brigades, each of which was 
followed by its long columns of transportation. But this 
plan was very unsatisfactory, for thereby the army was 
extended along forest paths over an immense extent of 
country, and great delays and difficulties ensued in keeping 
the column closed up ; for such was the nature of the roads 
that after the first few wagons had passed over them they 
were rendered impassable in places for those behind. At 
least a quarter of each regiment was occupied in escorting 
its wagons, piled up Avith ammunition, provisions, tents, 
etc. ; and long after the head of the column had settled in 
bivouac could be heard the loud shouting of the team- 
sters to their jaded and mire-bedraggled brutes, the clatter 
of wagon and artillery wheels, the lowing of the driven 
herds, the rattling of sabres, canteens, and other equip- 
ments, as the men strode along in the darkness, anx- 
ious to reach the spot selected for their uncertain quantity 
of rest. 

At times in this campaign it was necessary for the wagon- 
trains to be massed and move together, but, for some reason, 
no order of march was issued, so that the most dire con- 
fusion ensued. A struggle for the lead would naturally 
set in, each division wanting it and fighting for it. 
Profanity, threats, and the flourishing of revolvers were 
sure to be prominent in the settling of the question, but 
the train which could run over the highest stumps and 
jmll through the deepest mud-holes was lil^ely to come out 
ahead. 

The verdancy wdiich remained after the first fall of the 
Union army at Bull Run was to be utterly overshadowed by 
the baptism of woe which was to follow in the Peninsular 
Campaign ; and on arriving at Harrison's Landing, on the 
James, McClellan issued the following order, which paved 
the way for better things : — 



. AlUir WAGON-TRAINS. 357 

Allowance of Transportation, Tents, and Baggage. 

iead'^iuirtrrs, <^rmn of i\\^ |otomii([. 

Camp near n((rrl.sou\-i Landing, Vu., August 10, 1862. 

General Orders, ( 
No. 153. ) 

I. The following allowance of wagons is authorized: 

For the Head-Quarters of an Army Corps Four 

" " a Division or Brigade Three 

For a Battery of Light A rtillerj', or Squadron of Cavalry . . . Three 

For a full regiment of Infantry ^'/x 

This allowance will in no case be exceeded, but will be reduced to corre- 
spond as nearly as practicable with the number of officers and men actually 
present. All means of transportation in excess of th.e prescribed standard 
will be immediately turned in to the depot, with ' the exception of the 
authorized supply trains, which will be under the direction of the Chief 
Quartermasters of Corps. The Chief Quartermaster' of this Army will 
direct the organization of the supply trains. 

II. The Army must be prepared to bivouac when on marches away from 
the depots. The allowance of tents will therefore be immediately reduced 
to the following standard, and no other accommodations must be expected 
until a permanent depot is established : 

For the Head-Quarters of an Army Corps, Division, or Brigade, one wall 
tent for the General Counnanding, and one to every two officers of his 
staff. 

To each full regiment, for tlie Colonel, Field and Staff officers, three 
wall tents. 

For all other commissioned officers, one shelter tient each. 

For every two non-commissioned officers, soldiers, officers' servants, and 
camp folloAvers, as far as they can be supplied, one shelter tent. 

One hosijital tent will be allowed for office purposes at Corps Head- 
Quai'ters, and one wall tent at Division and Brigalle Head-Quarters. 

All tents in excess of this allowance will be immediately turned in to 
the depots. 

Tents of other patterns required to.be exchanged for shelter tents will 
be turned in as soon as the latter can be obtained from the Quartermaster's 
department. Under no circumstances will they be allowed to be carried 
when the Army moves. 

III. The allowance of officers' baggage will be limited to blankets, a 
small valise or carpet bag, and a reasonable mess-kit. All officers will at 
once reduce their baggage to this standard. The men will carry no baggage 
except blankets and shelter tents. The Chief Quartermaster will provide 

, storage on the transjjorts for the knapsacks of the men and for the officers' 
surplus baggage. 



358 llABB TACK AND COFFEE. 

IV. Hospital tents must not be diverted from their legitimate nse, except 
for offices, as authorized in paragraph II. 

V. The wagons allowed to a regiment or battery must carry nothing but 
forage for the teams, cooking utensils for the men, hospital stores, small 
rations, and officers' baggage. One of the wagons allowed for a regiment 
will be used excluswely for hospital stores, under the direction of the regi- 
mental sui-geon. The wagon for regimental Head-Quarters will carry grain 
for the officers' horses. At least one and a half of the wagons allowed to a 
battery or squadron will carry grain. 

VI. Hospital stores, ammunition. Quartermaster's Stores, and subsistence 
stores in bulk will be transported in special trains. 

VII. Commanding officers will be held responsible that the reduction 
above ordered, especially of officers' baggage, is carried into effect at once, 
and Corps commanders are specially ciiarged to see that this responsibility is 
enforced. 

VIII. On all marches. Quartermasters will accompany and conduct their 
trains, under the orders of their commanding officers, so as never to obstruct 
the movement of troops. 

IX. All Quartermasters and Commissaries of Subsistence will attend in 
person to the receipt and issue of supplies for their commands, and will keep 
themselves constantly informed of the situation of the depots, roads, etc. 

By commanp of Majoii Gexerai. McClellan: 

S. WILLIAMS, 
jlasistaiit Adjutant General. 



Official 



Aide-de-Caiiip. 



This order quite distinctly shows some of the valuable 
lessons taught by that eventfid campaign before Rich- 
mond, more especially the necessity of limiting the amount 
of camp equipage and the transportation to be used for 
that purpose. But it farther outlines the beginnings of 
the Supply Trains, and to these I wish to direct sj)ecial 
attention. 

I have thus far only referred to the transportation pro- 
vided for the camp equipage ; but subsistence for man and 
beast must be taken along ; clothing, to replace the Avear and 
tear of service, must be provided ; ammimition in quantity 
and variety must be at ready command; intrenching tools 
were indispensable in an active campaign, — all of which 



AliMY W'A aON-TRAINS. 



359 



was most forciljly demonstrated on the Peninsula. Some 
effort, I believe, was made to establish these trains before 
that campaign began, but everything was confusion when 
compared with the system which was now inaugurated by 
Colonel (now General) Riifus Ingalls, when he became Chief 
Quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac. Through his 
persevering zeal, trains for the above purposes were organ- 
ized. All strife for the lead on tlie march vanished, for 
every movement was governed by orders from army head- 
quarters under the direction of the chief quarternuister. He 
prescribed the roads to be travelled over, which corps trains 
should lead and which should bring up the rear, where more 
than one took the same roads. All of the corps trains were 
massed before a march, and the chief quartermaster of some 
corps was selected and put in charge of this consolidated 
train. The other corps quartermasters had charge of their 




WAGf)N-TRAIN CROSSING THE RAPPA- 
HANNOCK ON A PONTOON BRIDGE. 
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH. 



respective trains, each in turn having his division and bri- 
gade quartermasters, subject to his orders. " There never 
was a corps better organized than was the quartermaster's 
corps with the Army of the Potomac in 1864," says Grant 
in his Memoirs. 

Let us see a little more clearly what a corps train in- 
cluded. I can do no better than to incorporate here the 
following order of General Meade : — 



360 MAUD TACK AND COFFEF, 

i^a(l=^uai[ki[s, ^\[n\^ of iht, Potomac* 

General Orders, ) AlK/ust 21, 1863. 

No. 83. ) ' 

In order tliat the amount of transportation in this Army shall not in any 
instance exceed the maximum allowance prescribed in General Order, No. 
274, of August 7, 1863, from the War Department, and to further modify 
and reduce baggage and supply trains, heretofore authorized, the following 
allowances are established and will be strictly conformed to, viz. : 

1. The following is the maximum amount of transportation to be allowed 
to this Army in the field : 

To tlie Head-Quarters of an Army Corps, 2 wagons or 8 pack mules. 

To the Head-Quarters of a Division or Brigade, 1 wagon or 5 pack mules. 

To every three company officers, when detached or serving without wagons, 
1 pack mule. 

To every 12 company officers, when detached, 1 wagon or 4 pack mules. 

To every 2 staff officers not attached to any Head-Quarters, 1 pack mule. 

To every 10 staff officers serving similarly, 1 wagon or 4 pack mules. 

The above will include transportation for all personal baggage, mess chests, 
cooking utensils, desks, papers, &c. The weight of officers' baggage in the 
field, specified in the Army Regulations, will be reduced so as to bring it 
within the foregoing schedule. All excess of transportation now with Army 
Corps, Divisions, Brigades, and Kegiments, or Batteries, over the allowances 
herein j)rescribed, will be immediately turned in to the Quartermaster's De- 
partment, to be used in the trains. 

Commanding officers of Corps, Divisions, ifec, will immediately cause in- 
spections to be made, and will be held responsible for the strict execution of 
this order. 

Commissary stores and forage will be transported by the trains. Where 
these are not conveniemt of access, and where troops act in detachments, 
the Quartermaster's Department will assign wagons or pack animals for that 
purpose; but the baggage of officers, or of troops, or camp equipage, will not 
be permitted to be carried in the wagons or on the pack animals so assigned. 
The assignment for transportation for ammunition, hospital stores, subsist- 
ence, and forage will be made in proportion to the amount ordered to be car- 
ried. The number of wagons is hereinafter prescribed. 

Tlie allowance of spring wagons and saddle liorses for contingent wants, 
and of camp and garrison equipage, will remain as established by circular, 
dated July 17, 1863. 

2. For each full regiment of infantry and cavalry, of 1000 men, for bag- 
gage, camp equipage, &c., 6 wagons. 

For each regiment of infantry less than 700 men and more than 500 men, 
5 wagons. 

For each regiment of infantry less than 500 men and more than 300 men, 
4 wagons. 
For each regiment of infantry less than 300 men, 3 wagons. 



AEMY WAGON-TBAINS. QQl 

3. For each battery of 4 and G guns — for personal baggage, mess chests, 
cooking utensils, desks, papers, &c., 1 and 2 wagons respectively. 

For annaunition trains the number of wagons will be determined and as- 
signed upon the following rules: 

1st. Multiply each 12 pdr. gun by 122 and divide by 112. 

2d. Multiply each rifle gun by .50 and divide by 140. 

3d. For each 20 pdr. gun, IJ wagons. 

4th. For each siege gun, 2| wagons. 

5th. For the general supply train of reserve ammunition of 20 rounds to 
each gun in the Army, to be kept habitually with Artillery Reserve, 54 
wagons. 

For each battery, to carry its proportion of subsistence, forage, etc., 2 
wagons. 

4. The supply train for forage, subsistence, quartermaster's stores, etc., 
to each 1000 men, cavalry and infantry, 7 wagons. 

To every 1000 men, cavalry and infantry, for small arm ammunition, 
5 wagons. 

To each 1500 men, cavalry and infantry, for hospital supplies, 3 wagons. 

To each Army Corps, except the Cavalry, for entrenching tools, &c., 6 
wagons. 

To each Corps Head-Quarters for the carrying of subsistence, forage and 
other stores not provided for herein, 3 wagons. 

To each Division Head-Quarters for similar purpose as above, 2 wagons. 

To each Brigade Head-Quarters for similar purpose as above, 1 wagon. 

To each Brigade, cavalry and infantry, for commissary stores for sales to 
officers, 1 wagon. 

To each Division, cavalry and infantry, for hauling forage for ambulance 
animals, portable forges, &c., 1 wagon. 

To each Division, cavalry and infantry, for carrying armorer's tools, parts 
of muskets, e.xtra arms and accoutrements, 1 wagon. 

It is expected that each ambulance, and each wagon, whether in the bag- 
gage, supply or amnumition train, will carry the necessary forage for its own 
team. 

By command of Major General Meade: 

S. WILLIAMS, 
Assistant Adjutant General. 
Official : 

AssH Adft Genn. 

As the transportation was reducetl in quantity, the capac- 
ity of what remained, was put to a severer test. For ex- 
ample, when the Army of the Potomac went into the Wilder- 
ness, in 186-1:, each wagon was required to carry five days 
forage for its animals (600 pounds), and if its other freight 
was rations it might be six barrels of salt pork and four 



3(32 IIAUl) TACK AND COFFEE. 

barrels of coffee, or ten l)arrels of sugar. Forty boxes of 
bardtack was a load, not so nmcb because of its weight as 
because a wagon would hold no more. It even excluded 
the forage to carry tliis number. In the final campaign 
against Lee, Grant allowed for baggage and camp equipage 
three wagons to a regiment of over seven hundred men, 
two wagons to a regiment of less than seven hundred and 
more than three hundred, and one wagon to less than three 
hundred. One wagon was allowed to a field battery. But, 
notwithstanding tlie reductions ordered at different tinies, 
extra wagons were often smuggled along. One captain, in 
charge of a train, tells of keeping a wagon and six mules of 
his own more than orders allowed, and whenever the in- 
specting officer was announced as coming, the wagon, in 
charge of his man, Mike, was driven off under cover and 
not returned till the inspection was completed. This 
enabled him to take along quite a personal outfit for him- 
self and friends. But his experience was not unique. 
Tliere were many other "contraband" mule-teams smug- 
gled along in the same way for the same object. 

In leaving Chattanooga to advance into Georgia, General 
Sherman reduced his transportation to one baggage-wagon 
and one ambulance for a regiment, and a pack-horse or 
mule for the officers of each company. His supply trains 
were limited in their loads to food, ammunition, and cloth- 
ing ; and wall tents were forbidden to be taken along, 
barring one for each headquarters, the gallant old veteran 
setting the example, by taking only a tent-fl}^ which was 
pitched over saplings or fence rails. The general has 
recorded in his " Memoirs " that his orders were not strictly 
obeyed in this respect, Thomas being the most noted excep- 
tion, who could not give up his tent, and " had a big wagon, 
which could be converted into an office, and this we used to 
call ' Thomas's circus.' " In starting on his " march to the 
sea," Sherman issued Special Field Orders No. 120 ; paragraph 
3 of this order reads as follows : — 



ABMV n'AGON-TIiAINS. 353 

*' Tliere will be no general train of supplies, but each corps will have its 
ammunition train and provision train distributed habitually as follows: 
Behind each regiment should follow one wagon and one ambulance; behind 
each brigade should follow a due proportion of ammunition-wagons, provis- 
ion-wagons and am])ulances. In case of danger each corps commander 
should cliange this order of march, by having his advance and rear brigades 
unencumbered by wheels. The separate columns will start habitually at 
7 A. M., and make about fifteen miles per day, unless otherwise fixed in 
orders." 

I presume the allowance remained about the same for 
the Wilderness Campaign as that given in Orders No. 83. 
General Hancock says that he started into the Wilderness 
with 27,000 men. Now, using this fact in connection with 
the general order, a little rough reckoning will give an 
approximate idea of the size of the train of this corps. 
Without going into details, I may say that the total train of 
the Second Corps, not including the ambulances, could not 
have been far from 800 wagons, of which about 600 carried 
the various supplies, and the remainder the baggage — the 
camp equipage of the corps. 

When the army was in settled camp, the supply trains 
went into park by themselves, but the baggage-wagons 
were retained with their corps, division, brigade, or regi- 
mental headquarters. When a march was ordered, however, 
these wagons waited only long enough to receive their 
freight of camp equipage, when away they went in charge 
of their respective (quartermasters to join the corps supply 
train. 

I have alluded to the strength of a single corps train. 
But the Second Corps comprised only about one-fifth of the 
Union army in the Wilderness, from which a little arith- 
metic will enable one to get a tolerably definite idea of the 
impedimenta of this one army, even after a great reduction 
in the original amount had been made. There were prob- 
abl}^ over 4000 wagons following the Army of the Potomac 
into the Wilderness. An idea of the ground such a train 
would cover may be obtained by knowing that a six-mule 



3(34 uAnn tack and coffee. 

team took up on the road, say, forty feet, but of course they 
did not travel at close intervals. Tlie nature of the country 
determined, in some degree, their distance apart. In going 
up or down hill a liberal allowance v/as made for balky or 
headstrong mules. Colonel Wilson, the chief commissary of 
the army, in an interesting article to the United Service 
magazine (1880), has stated that could the train which was 
requisite to accompany the army on the Wilderness Cam- 
paign have been extended in a straight line it would have 
spanned the distance between Washington and Richmond, 
being about one hundred and thirty miles. 1 presume 
this estimate includes the ambulance-train also. On the 
basis of three to a regiment, there must have been as many 
as one hundred and fifty to a corps. These, on ordinary 
marches, followed immediately in the rear of their respective 
divisions. 

When General Sherman started for the sea, his army of 
sixty thousand men was accompanied by about twenty-five 
hundred wagons and six hundred ambulances. These were 
divided nearly equally between his four corps, each corps 
commander managing his own train. In this campaign the 
transportation had the roads, Avhile the infantry plodded 
along by the roadside. 

The sup2)ly trains, it will now be understood, were the 
travelling depot or reservoir from which the army re- 
plenished its needs. When these wagons were emptied, 
they were at once sent back to the base of supplies, to be 
reloaded with precisely the same kind of material as before ; 
and empty wagons had always to leave the road clear for 
loaded ones. Unless under a pressure of circumstances, all 
issues except of ammunition were made at night. By this 
plan the animals of the supply consumed their forage 
at the base of supplies, and thus saved hauling it. 

It was a welcome sight to the soldiers when rations drew 
low, or were exhausted, to see these wagons drive up to the 
lines. They were not impedimenta to the army just then. 



A RM r ]VAGO N- 77? A INS. 



365 



It has sometimes been thought that the wagon-train was a 
glorious refuge from the dangers and hard hibors endured at 
the front, but such was not the case. It was one of the 




COMMISSARY DEPOT AT CEDAU LEVEL. — FROM A PHOTOGRArH. 



most wearing departments of the service. The officers in 
immediate charge were especially burdened with responsibil- 
ity, as the statement above illustrates. They were charged 
to have their trains at a given point at or before a speci- 
fied time. It vnii<t be there. There was no "if convenient" 
or "• if possible " attached to the order. The troops must 
have their rations, or, more important still, the ammunition 
must be at hand in case of need. Sometimes they would 
accomplish the task assigned without difficulty, but it 
was the exception. Of course, they could not start until 
the army had got out of the way. Then, the roads, already 
cat up somewliat by the artillery, were soon rendered next 
to impassable by tlie moving trains. TJie quartermaster in 
charge of a train would be called upon to extricate a wagon 
here that was blocking tlie Avay, to supply the place of a 
worn-out horse or mule there ; to have a stalled wag-on un- 
loaded and its contents distributed among other wagons ; 
to keep the train well closed up ; to keep the right road 
even by night, when, of necessity, much of their travelling 
was done. And if, with a series of such misfortunes befalling 



366 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

him, the quartermaster readied liis destination a few Lours 
late, his chances were very good for being roundly sworn at 
by his superior officers for his delinquency. 

During the progress of the train, it may be said, the 
quartermaster would ease his nervous and troubled spirit 
by swearing at careless or unfortunate mule-drivers, who, in 
turn, would make the air blue with profanity addressed to 
their mules, individually or collectively, so that the anxiety 
to get through was felt by all the moving forces in the 
train. A large number of these drivers were civilians early 
in the war, but owing to the lack of subordination which 
many of them showed, their places were largely supplied 
later by enlisted men, upon whom Uncle Sam liad his grip, 
and wlio could not resign or " swear back " without 
penalty. 

The place of the trains on an advance was in the rear of 
the army ; on the retreat, in front, as a rule. If they were 
passing through a dangerous section of country, they were 
attended by a guard, sometimes of infantry, sometimes 
cavalry. The strength of the guard varied with tlie 
nature of the danger expected. Sometimes a regiment, 
sometimes a brigade or division, was detailed from a corps 
for the duty. The natui-e of Sherman's march was such that 
trains and troops went side by side, as already referred to. 
The colored division of the Ninth Corps served as train- 
guard for the transportation of the Arn)y of the Potomac 
from the Rapidan to the James in 1864. 

When ammunition was wanted by a battery or a regi- 
ment in the line of battle, a wagon was sent forward from 
the train to supply it, the train remaining at a safe dis- 
tance in the rear. The nearness of the wagon's approach 
was governed somewhat by the nature of the ground. If 
there was cover to screen it from the enemy, like a hill or a 
piece of woods, it would come pretty near, but if exposed it 
would keep farther away. When it was possible to do so, 
supplies both of subsistence and ammunition were brought 



ARMY WA GON-TBA INS. 



367 



up by night when the army was in line of battle, for, as 
I have said elsewhere, a mule-team or a mule-train under fire 
was a diverting spectacle to every one but the mule-drivers. 




A MI:LE-TEAM UNDER FIRE. 

One of the most striking reminiscences of the wagon-train 
which I remember relates to a scene enacted in the fall of 
'63 in that campaign of manrouvres between Meade and 
Lee My own corps (Tliird) reached CentreviUe Heights 
before sunset -in fact, was, I think, the first corps to 
arrive. At all events, we had anticipated the most of the 
trains. At that hour General Warren was having a lively 
row with the enemy at Bristoe Station, eight or nine miles 
away. As the twilight deepened, the flash of his artillery 
and the smoke of the conflict were distinctly visible in the 
horizon. The landscape between this stirring scene and our 
standpoint presented one of the most animated spectacles, 
that I ever saw in the service. Its most attractive feature 
was the numerous wagon-trains, whose long lines, stretching 
away for miles over the open plain, were hastening forward 
to a place of refuge, all converging towards a common 
centre -the high ground lying along the hither side of 
Bull Run The officers in charge of the trains, made some- 
what nervous by the sounds of conflict reaching them from 



368 irARI) TACK AND COFFEE. 

the rear, impatiently urged on the drivers, who, in turn, 
with lusty lungs uttered vigorous oaths at the mules, 
punctuated by blows or cracks of the black snake that 
equalled in volume the intonations of a rifle ; and these 
jumped into their harnesses and took the wagons along over 
stumps and through gullies witla as great alacrity as if the 
chief strain and responsibility of the campaign centred in 
themselves. An additional feature of animation was pre- 
sented by the columns of infantry from the other corps, 
vvhicli alternated in the landscape with the lines of wagons, 
winding along into camp tired and footsore, but without 
apparent concern. I do not now remember any other time 
in my experience when so large a portion of the materiel 
and personnel of the army could have been covered by a 
single glance as I saw in the gatliering twilight of that Octo- 
ber afternoon. 

Tlie system of designating the troops by corps badges was 
extended to the transportation, and every wagon Avas marked 
on the side of the canvas covering with the corps badge, 
perhaps eighteen inches in diameter, and of the appropriate 
color to designate the divisioii to which it belonged. In ad- 
dition to this, the number of its division, brigade, and the 
nature of its contents, whether rations, forage, clothing, or 
annnunition, — and, if the latter, the kind, whether artillery 
or musket, and the calibre, — were plainly stencilled in large 
letters on the cover. All this and much more went to indi- 
cate as perfect organization in the trains as in the army it- 
self, and to these men, who were usually farthest from the 
fray, for whom few words of appreciation have been uttered 
by distinguished writers on the war, I gladly put on record 
my humble opinion that the country is as much indebted as 
for the work of the soldiers in line. They acted well their 
part, and all honor to them for it. 

A regular army officer, who had a large experience in 
charge of trains, has suggested that a bugler for each bri- 
gade or division train would have been a valuable auxiliary 



ARMY WAGON-TRAINS. 



369 



for starting or halting tlie trains, or for regulating the camp 
duties as in artillery and cavalry. It seems strange that so 
commendable a proposition was not thought of at the time. 
In 1863, while the army was lying at Belle Plain after the 
memorable Mud March, large numbers of colored refugees 
came into camp. Every day saw some old cart or antiquated 
wagon, the relic of better days in the Old Dominion, unload- 
ing its freight of contrabands, who had thus made their en- 
trance into the lines of Uncle Sam and Freedom. As a large 
number of these vehicles had accumulated near his head- 
quarters, General Wadsworth, then commanding the first 
division of the First Corps, conceived the novel idea of 
forming a supply train of them, using as draft steers, to be 
selected from the corps cattle herd, and broken for that 
purpose. His plan, more in detail, was to load the carts at 




THE "bull train." 



the base of supplies with what rations they would safely 
carry, despatch them to the troops wherever they might be. 
issue the rations, slaughter the oxen for fresh beef, and use 
the wagons for fuel to cook it. A very practical scheme, 
at first view, surely. A detail of mechanics was made to 



370 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

put tlie wagons in order, a requisition was drawn for yokes, 
and Captain Ford of a Wisconsin regiment, who had had 
experience in such work, was detailed to break in the steers 
to yoke and draft. 

The captain spent all winter and the following spring in 
perfecting tlie " Bull Train," as it was called. The first 
serious set-back the plan received resulted from feeding the 
steers with unsoaked hard bread, causing several of them to 
swell up and die ; but the general was not yet ready to give 
up the idea, and so continued the organization. Chancel- 
lorsville battle came when all the trains remained in camp. 
But the day of trial was near. When the army started on 
the Gettysburg campaign. Captain Ford put his train in rear 
of the corps wagon-train, and started, with the inevitable 
result. 

The mules and horses walked right away from the oxen, 
in spite of the goading and lashing and yelling of their 
drivers. By nightfall they were doomed to be two or three 
miles behind the main train — an easy prey for Mosby's 
guerilla band. At last the labor of keeping it up and the 
anxiety for its safety were so intense that before the Potomac 
was reached the animals were returned to the lierd, the sup- 
plies were transferred or issued, the wagons were burned, 
and the pet scheme of General Wadsworth was abandoned 
as impracticable. 

Quite nearly akin to this Bull Train was the train organ- 
ized bv Grant after the battle of Port Gibson. His army 
was east of the Mississippi, his ammunition train was west 
of it. Wagon transportation for ammunition must be liad. 
Provisions could be taken from the country. He says: "I 
directed, therefore, immediately on landing, that all the vehi- 
cles and draft animals, whether horses, mules, or oxen, in 
the vicinity should be collected and loaded to their capacit}' 
with ammunition. Quite a train was collected during the 
30th, and a motley train it was. In it could be found fine 
carriages, loaded nearly to the top with boxes of cartridges 



ABMY WAGON-TRAINS. 371 

that had been pitched in promiscuously, drawn by mules 
with plough-harness, sti-aw collars, rope lines, etc. ; long- 
coupled wagons with racks for carrying cotton-bales, drawn 
by oxen, and everything that could be found in the way of 
transportation on a plantation, either for use or pleasure." 
[Vol. i., p. 488.] 

Here is another incident which will well illustrate the 
trials of a train quartermaster. At the opening of the 
campaign in 1864, Wilson's cavalry division joined the Army 
of the Potomac. Captain Ludington (now lieutenant-colo- 
nel, U. S. A.) was chief quartermaster of its supply train. 
It is a settled rule guiding the movement of trains that 
the cavalry supplies shall take precedence in a move, as 
the cavalry itself is wont to precede the rest of the army. 
Through some oversight of the chief quartermaster of the 
army, General Ingalls, the captain had received no order of 
march, and after waiting until the head of the infantry sup- 
])\y trains appeared, well understanding that his place was 
ahead of them on the march, he moved out of park into the 
road. At once he encountered the chief quartermaster of 
tlie corps train, and a hot and wordy contest ensued, in 
which vehement language found ready expression. While 
this dispute for place was at white heat. General Meade and 
his staff rode by, and saw the altercation in progress without 
halting to inquire into its cause. After he had passed some 
distance up the road, Meade sent back an aid, with his com- 
pliments, to ascertain what train that was struggling for the 
road, who was in charge of it, and with Mdiat it was loaded. 
Captain Ludington informed him that it was Wilson's cav- 
alry supply train, loaded with forage and rations. These 
facts the aid reported faithfully to Meade, who sent him back 
again to inquire particular!}' if that reall}' was Wilson's cav- 
alry train. Upon receiving an affirmative answer, he again 
carried the same to General Meade, who immediately turned 
back in his tracks, and came furiously back to Ludington. 
Uttering a volley of oaths, he asked him what he meant by 



372 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

throwing all tlie trains into confusion. "You ought to have 
been out of here hours ago ! " he continued. " I have a great 
mind to hang you to the nearest tree. You are not fit to be 
a. quartermaster." In this manner General Meade rated the 
innocent captain for a few inoments, and then rode away. 
When he had gone, General Ingalls dropped back from the 
staff a moment, with a laugh at the interview, and, on learn- 
ing the captain's case, told him to remain where he was 
until he received an order from him. Thereupon Luding- 
ton withdrew to a house that stood not far away from the 
road, and, taking a seat on the veranda, entered into con- 
versation with two young ladies who resided there. Soon 
after he had thus comfortably disposed himself, who should 
appear upon the highway but Sheridan, who was in com- 
mand of all the cavalry with the army. On discovering 
the train at a standstill, he rode up and asked : — 

" What train is this ? " 

" The supply train of Wilson's Cavalry Division," was 
the reply of a teaaister. 

"Who's in charge of it?" 

"Captain Ludington." 

" Where is he ? " 

" There he sits j^onder, talking to those ladies." 

"Give him my compliments and tell him I want to see 
liim," said Sheridan, much wrought u[) at the situation, appar- 
ently thinking that the train was being delayed that its quar- 
termaster might spend further time "in gentle dalliance " with 
the ladies. As soon as the captain approached, the general 
charged forward impetuously, as if he would ride the cap- 
tain down, and, with one of those "terrible oaths" for 
which he was famous, demanded to know what he was 
there for, why he was not out at daylight, and on after his 
division. As Ludington attempted to explain, Sheridan 
cut him off by opening his battery of abuse again, threaten- 
ing to have him shot for his incompetency and delay, and 
ordering him to take the road at once with his train. Hav- 




^'"m^s\ 



ARMY WAGO^-TRAINS. 375 

ing exhausted all the strong language in the vocabulaiy, he 
rode away, leaving the poor captain in a state of distress 
that can be only partially imagined. When he had finally 
got somewhat settled after this rough stirring-up, he took a 
review of the situation, and, having weighed the threatened 
hanging by General Meade, the request to await his orders 
from General Ingalls, the threatened shooting of General 
Sheridan, and the original order of General Wilson, which 
was to be on hand with the supplies at a certain specified 
time and place, Ludington decided to await orders from 
General Ingalls, and resumed the company of the ladies. 
At last the orders came, and the captain moved his train, 
spending the night on the road in the Wilderness, and when 
morning dawned had reached a creek over which it was 
necessary for him to throw a bridge before it could be 
crossed. So he set his teamsters at work to build a bridge. 
Hardly had they begun felling trees before up rode the chief 
quartermaster of the Sixth Corps train, anxious to cross. 
An agreement was entered into, however, that they should 
build the bridge together ; and the corps quartermaster set 
his pioneers at work with Ludington's men, and the bridge 
was soon finished. Recognizing the necessity for the 
cavalry train to take the lead, the corps quartermaster 
had assented that it should pass the bridge first when 
it was completed, and on the arrival of that moment the 
train was put in motion, but just then a prompt and deter- 
mined chief quartermaster of a Sixth Corps division train, 
unaware of the understanding had between his superior, the 
corps quartermaster, and Captain Ludington, rode forward and 
insisted on crossing first. A struggle for precedence immedi- 
ately set in. The contest waxed warm, and language more for- 
cible than polite was waking the woodland echoes when who 
should appear on the scene again but General Meade. On 
seeing Ludington engaged as he saw him tlie day before, 
it aroused his wrath most unreasonably, and, riding up to 
him, he shouted, with an oath: "What I are you here again! " 



376 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



Then shaking his fist in his face, he continued: " I am sorry 
now that I did not hang you yesterday, as I threatened." 
The captain, exhausted and out of patience with the trials 
which he had encountered, replied that he sincerely wislied 
he had, and was sorry that he was not already dead. The 
arrival of the chief quartermaster of the Sixth Corps, at this 
time, ended the dispute for precedence, and Ludington 
went his way without further vexatious delays to overtake 
liis cavalry division. 







CHAPTER XX. 



ARMY ROAD AND BRIDGE BUILDERS. 



" A line of black, which bends and floats 
On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats." 



Longfellow. 




F there is one class of men in this 
country who more than all others 
should appreciate spacious and 
well graded highways, or ready 
means of transit from one sec- 
tion into another, that class is the 
veterans of the Union Army ; for 
those among them who " hoofed 
it " from two to four years in 
Rebeldom travelled more miles across country in 
that period than they did on regularly constituted 
thoroughfares. Now through the woods, now over 
the open, then crossing a swam}), or wading a river 
of varying depth, here tearing away a fence obstructing the 
march, there filling a ditch with rails to smooth the passage 
of the artillery, — in fact, "short cuts " were so common and 
popular that the men endured the obstacles they often pre- 
sented with the utmost good-nature, knowing that every 
rood of travel thus saved meant fewer foot-blisters and an 
earlier arrival in camp. 

But there was a portion of the army which could not 
often indulge in short cuts, which must "find a way or 
make it," or have it made for them by others ; and as some 
time and much skill and labor were necessary in laying out 
and completing such a way in an efficient manner, a body of 

377 



378 



IIAIW TACK AND COFFEE. 



men was enlisted for the exclusive pur[)Ose of doing this kind 
of work. Such a l)ody was the Enji'meer Corps, often called 
tlie Sapper's and 3Iiners of the army ; but so little sap])ing- 
and mining was done, and that little niainl}- by the fighting 
forces, I shall speak of this body of men as Eiigiiieers — 
the name which, I believe, tliey ])refer. 

In the Army of the Potouiac this corps was composed of 
the Fifteenth and Fiftieth New York regiments of volun- 
teers and a battalion of regulars comprising three companies. 
They started out with McClellan in the Peninsular Cam- 
paign, and from that time till the close of the war were 
identified with the movements of this army. These engi- 
neers went armed as infantry for purposes of self-defence 
only, for fighting was not their legitimate business, nor was 
it expected of them. There were emergencies in tlie history 
of the army when tliey were drawn up in line of battle. 
Such was the case with a part of them at least at Antietam, 
Gettysburg, and the Wilderness, but, so far as I can learn, 
they were never actively engaged. 

The engineers' special duties were to make roads passable 
for the army by corduroying sloughs, building trestle bridges 
across small streams, laying pontoon bridges over rivers, 
and taking up the same, laying out and building fortifica- 




CORDUROYING. 



tions, and slashing. Corduroying called at times for a 
large amount of labor, for Virginia mud was such a foe to 
rapid transit that miles upon miles of this sort of road had 



ARMY ROAD AND B RIDGE BUILDERS. 



379 



to be laid to keep ready commuiiicatiun between different 
portions of the army. Where the ground was miry, two 
stringers were laid longitudinally of the road, and on tliese 
the corduroy of logs, averaging, perhai')S, four inches in 
diameter, was laid, and a cover of brush was sometimes 
spread upon it to prevent mules from thrusting their legs 
tlirough. Wliere the surface was simply muddy, no string- 
ers were used. It sliould be said here that by far the 
greater portion of this variety of work fell to fatigue details 
from the infantry, as did much more of the labor which 
came within the scope of the engineers' duties; for the latter 
could not liave accomplished one-fifth of the tasks devolved 
upon them in time. In fact, if I except the laying and 




A TRESTLE I5RIDGE, NO. 1. 



taking-up of pontoon bridges, and the laying-out and 
superintending of the building of forts, there were none of 
the engineers' duties which were not performed by the 
fio-hting force to a large extent. I state this not in detrac- 
tion of the engineers, who always did well, but in justice to 
the infantry, who so often supplemented the many and trying- 
duties of their own department with the accomplishments 
of the engineer corps. The quarternnister of tiie army had 
a large number of wagons loaded witli intrenching tools 
with which to supply the troops when their services were 
required as engineers. 

The building of trestle bridges called for much labor from 
the engineers with the Army of the Potomac, for Virginia is 



380 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



griclironed with small streams. These, bear in mind, the 
troops could ford easily, but tlie heavily loaded trains must 
have bridf^es to cross on, or each ford would soon have been 




A TKESTLli liRIDtiE, NO. 2. 

choked v/ith mired teams. Sometimes the bridges built by 
the natives were still standing, but they had originally been 
put up for local travel only, not to endure the tramp and 
rack of moving armies and their thousands of tons of imped-, 
imenta ; wherefore the engineers would take them in hand 
and strengthen them to the point of present efficiency. So 
well was much of this work done tliat it endures in places 
to-day as a monument to their thoroughness and iidelit}^ and 
a convenience to the natives of those sections. 

When a line of works was laid out through woods, much 
slashhu/^ or felling of trees, was necessar}' in its front. 
This was especially necessary in front of forts and batteries. 
Much of tliis labor was done by the engineers. The trees 
were felled with tlieir tops toward the enemy, leaving stumps 
about three feet high. The territory covered by these fallen 
trees was called tJie Slashes., hence Slasliiny. No large body 
of the enemy could safely attempt a passage through such 
an obstacle. It was a strong defence for a weak line of 
works. 

The Gabions., being hollow cylinders of wicker-work with- 
out bottom, filled with earth, and placed on the earthworks; 
the Fascines, being bundles of small sticks bound at both 



AliMV ROAD AND BRIDGE BUILDERS. 



381 



ends and intermediate points, to aid in raising batteries, 
filling ditches, etc. ; Chevaux-de-frise, a piece of timber 




A LARGE GABIOX. 



traversed witli wooden spikes, used especially as a defence 
against cavalry ; the Ahatls, a row of the large branches of 
trees, sharpened and laid close together, points 
outward, with the butts pinned to the ground ; 
the Frake, a defence of pointed sticks, fastened 
into the ground at such an incline as to bring the 
points breast-high; — all these were fashioned by 
the engineer corps, 
in vast numbers, 
\y\\e\\ the army was 
besieging Peters- 
burg in 1864. 

But the crown- 
ing work of this 

corps, as it always seemed to me, tlie department 
of their labor for which, I believe, they will be 
the longest remembered, was that of ponton- 
bridge laying. The word ponton, or pontoon, is 
borrowed from both the S^janish and French lan- 
guages, which, in turn, derive it from the parent Latin, po^is^ 




CITEVAUX-DE-FRISE. 



382 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 




meaning a bridge, but it has now come to mean a boat, 
and the men who build sueli bridges are called by the 

French poiitouiers. In fact, 
the system of ponton bridges 
in use during the Rebel 
lion was copied, I believe, 
almost exactly from the 
French model. 

The first ponton Inidge 
which I recall in history 
was built !)}• Xerxes, nearly twenty-four hundred years ago, 
across the Hellespont. It was over four thousand feet 
long. A violent storm broke it up, whereupon the Persian 
"got square" by throwing two pairs of shackles into the 
sea and ordering his men to give it three hundred strokes 
of a whip, while he addressed it in imperious language. 
Then lie ordered all those persons who had been charged 
with the construction of tlie 
bridge to be beheaded. Im- 
mediately afterwards he had 
two other bridges built, "one 
for the army to pass over, and 
the other for the baggage and 
beasts of burden. He ap- 
pointed workmen more able 

and expert than the former, who went about it in this man- 
ner. They placed three hundred and sixty vessels across, 
some of them having three banks of oars and others fifty oars 
apiece, with their sides turned towards the Euxine (Black) 
Sea ; and on the side that faced the ^gean Sea they put 
three hundred and fourteen. They then cast large anchors' 
into the water on both sides, in order to fix and secure all 
these A^essels against the violence of the winds and the cur- 
rent of the water. On the east side they left three passages 
or vacant spaces, between tlie vessels, that there might be 
room for small boats to go and come easily, when there was 




THE 1 rvAISE. 



AliMV BOAD AND BllIDGE BUILDERS. 383 

occasion, to and from the Euxine Sea. After this, upon the 
Land on both sides, they drove hirge piles into the earth, 
with huge rings fastened to them, to which were tied six 
vast cables, which went over each of the two bridges : two 
of which cables were made of hemp, and four of a sort of 
reeds called ^^^^oq^ which were made use of in those times 
for the making of cordage. Those that were made of hemp 
must have been of an extraordinary strength and thickness 
since every cubit in length weighed a talent (42 pounds). 
The cables, laid over the whole extent of the vessels length- 
wise, reached from one side to the other of the sea. When 
this part of the work was finished, quite over the vessels 
from side to side, and over the cables just described, they 
laid the trunks of trees cut for that purpose, and planks 
again over them, fastened and joined together to serve as a 
Idnd of floor or solid bottom : all which they covered over 
with earth, and added rails or battlements on each side that 
the horses and cattle might not be frightened at seeing the 
sea in their passage." 

Compare this bridge of Xerxes with that hereinafter de- 
scribed, and note the points of similarity. 

One of the earliest pontons used in the Rebellion was 
made of India-rubber. It was a sort of sack, shaped not 
unlike a torpedo, which had to be inflated before use. 
When thus inflated, two of these sacks were placed side by 
side, and on this buoyant foundation the bridge was laid. 
Their extreme lightness was a great advantage m transpor- 
tation, but for some reason they were not used by the engi- 
neers of the Army of the Potomac. They were used in the 
western army, however, somewhat. General F. P. Blair s 
division used them in the Vicksburg campaign of 18(33. 

Another ponton which was adopted for bridge service 
may be described as a skeleton boat-frame, over which was 
stretched a cotton-canvas cover. This was a great improve- 
ment over the tin or copper-covered boat-frames, which had 
been thoroughlv tested and condemned. It was the variety 



384 HAED TACK AND COFFEE. 

used by Sherman's army almost exclusively. In starting for 
Savannah, he distributed his ponton trains among liis four 
corps, giving to each about nine hundred feet of bridge ma- 
terial. These pontons were suitably hinged to form a wagon 




A CANVAS PONTOON BOAT. FROM A l'H( HOUR APH. 

body, in which was carried the canvas cover, anchor, chains, 
and a due proportion of other bridge materials. This kind 
of bridge was used by tlie volunteer engineers of the Army 
of the Potomac. I recall two such bridges. 

One spanned the Rapidan at Ely's Ford, and was crossed 
by the Second Corps the night of May 3, 1864, when it en- 
tered upon the Wilderness campaign. The other was laid 
across the Po River, by the Fiftieth New York Engineers, 
seven days afterwards, and over this Hancock's Veterans 
crossed — those, at least, who survived the battle of that 
eventful Tuesday — before nightfall. 

But all of the /ow// bridges, notably those crossing the 
Chickahomin}', the James, tlie Apponrattox, which now come 
to my mind, were supported by icooden boats of the French 
pattern. These were thirty-one feet long, two feet six inches 
deep, five feet four inches wide at the top, and four feet at 
the bottom. They tapered so little at the bows and sterns 
as to be nearly rectangular, and when afloat the gunwales 
were about horizontal, having little of the curve of the 
skiff. 

The floor timbers of the bridge, known as Balks, were 
twenty-five and one-half feet long, and four and one-half 



AB3IY BOAT) ANT) BRIDGE BUILDEBS. 



385 



inches square on the end. Five continnons lines of these 
were hiid on the boats two feet ten inches apart. 

The flooring- of the bridge, called chesses, consisted of 
boards having a uniform length of fourteen feet, a width of 
twelve inches, and a thickness of one and a half inches. 

To secure the chesses in place, side-rails of about the same 
dimensions as the balks were laid upon them over the outer 
balks, to which the rails were fastened by cords known as 
rdck-Iashinf/s. 

The distance between the centres of two boats in position 
is trailed a hay. The distance between the boats is thirteen 
feet ten inches. The distance between the side-rails is 
eleven feet, tliis being the width of the roadway. 

An abutment had to be constructed at either end of a 




Av ii 






AN ANGLE OF FORT HELL (seDGWICK) SHOWING GABIONS. CIIKVAUX-DE-FIIISE, 
ABATIS AND FKAISE. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH. 

bridge, which was generally done by settling a heavy timber 
horizontally in tlie ground, level with the top of the bridge, 
confining it there by stakes. A proper ai)proacli was then 
made to this, sometimes by grading, sometimes by cordu- 
roying, sometimes by cutting away the bank. 



386 IIAUn TACK AND COFFEE. 

The boats, with all other bridge equipage, were carried 
upon wagons, which together were known as the Ponton 
Train. Each wagon was drawn bv six mules, A sinirle 
boat with its anchor and cable fcn'nied the entire load for 
one team. The balks were loaded on wagons l)y themselves, 
as were also the chesses, and. the side-rails on others. Tliis 
system facilitated the work of the pontoniers. In camp, tlie 
Ponton Train was located near army headquarters. On tlie 
march it Avould naturally be in rear of the army, unless its 
services w^ere soon to be made use of. If, when the column 
had lialted, we saw this train and its body-guard, tlie engi- 
neers, passing to the front, we at once concluded tliat tliere 
was " one wide river to cross," and we might as well settle 
down for a while, cook some coffee, and take a nap. 

In order to get a better idea of ponton-bridge laying, let 
us follow" such a train to the river and note the various steps 
in the operation. If the enemy is not holding the opposite 
bank, the wagons are driven as near as practicable to tlie 
brink of the water, unloaded, and driven off out of the 
yvay. To avoid confusion and expedite the work, the corps 
is divided u[) into the abutment, boat, balk, lashing, chess, 
and side-rail parties. Each man, therefore, knows just what 
he has to do. The abutment party takes the initiative, by 
laying the abutment, and })re[)aring the approaches as already 
described. Sometimes, when tlie shore was quite marshy, 
trestle work or a crib of logs was necessary in completing 
this duty, but, as the army rarely appi'oached a river except 
over a recognized thoroughfare, such work was the exception. 

While this party has been vigorously prosecuting its 
special labors, the boat party, six in number, have got a 
ponton afloat, manned it, and ridden to a point a proper 
distance above the line of the proposed bridge, dropped 
anchor, and, paying out cable, drop down alongside the 
abutment, and go ashore. The balk parti/ are on hand with 
five balks, two men to each, and having placed these so that 
one end projects six inches beyond the outer gunwale of 



ABMV IWAD AND BRIDGE BUILDERS. 



387 



the l)oat, they make way for the lashmg parti/, who hash 
them in phace at proper intervals as indicated on the gun- 
wales. The hoat is then pushed into the stream the length 
of the balks, the hither ends of which are at once made fast 
to the abutment. 

Tlie chess parti/ now step to the front and cover the 
balks with flooring to within one foot of the ponton. 
Meanwhile tlie boat-party has launched another ponton, 




A WOODEX PONTOON BOAT. FROM A FHOTOCiHAPH. 



dropj)ed anchor in the proper place, and brought it along- 
side the first ; the balk party, also ready with another bay of 
balks, lay them for the lashing party to make fast; the boat 
being then pushed off broadside-to as before, and the free end 
of the balks lashed so as to project six inches over the shore 
gunwale of the first boat. By this plan it may be seen that 
each Ijalk and bay of balks completely spans two pontons. 
This gives the bridge a firm foundation. The chess party 
continue their operations, as before, to within a foot of the 
second boat. And now, when the third bay of the bridge is 
begun, the side-rail party appears, placing their rails on the 
cliesses over the outside balks, to which they firmly lash them, 
the chesses being so constructed that the lashings pass be- 
tween them for this purpose. 

The foregoing operations are repeated bay after bay till 
the bridge reaches the farther shore, when the building of 



388 HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 

another abutment and its approaches completes the main 
part of the work. It then remains to scatter the road- 
way of the bridge witii a h'ght covering of hay, or straw, or 
sand, to protect it from wear, and, perliaps, some straighten- 
ing here and tightening there may be necessarj^, but the 
work is now done, and all of the personnel and materiel 
may cross with perfect safety. No rapid movements are 
allowed, however, and man and beast must pass over at a walk. 
A guard of the engineers is posted at the abutment, order- 
ing " Route step ! "' " Route step ! "" as the troops strike the 
bridge, and sentries, at intervals, repeat the caution further 
along. By keeping the cadence in crossing, the troops would 
subject the l)ridge to a much greater strain, and settle it 
deeper in the water. It was shown over and over again 
that nothing so tried the bridge as a column of infantry. 
The current idea is that the artillery and the trains must 
have given it the severest test, which was not the case. 

In taking up a bridge, the order adopted was the reverse 
of that followed in laying it, beginning with the end next 
the enemy, and carrying the chess and balks back to the 
other shore by hand. The work was sometimes accelerated 
by weighing all anchors, and detaching the bridge from the 
further abutment, allow it to swing bodily around to the 
hither shore to be dismantled. One instance is remend^ered 
when this manoeuvre was executed with exceeding despatch. 
It was after the army had recrossed the Rappahannock, 
following the battle of Chancellorsville. So nervous were 
the engineers lest the enemy should come upon them at 
their labors they did not even wait to pull up anchors, but 
cut every cable and cast loose, glad enough to see their 
flotilla on the retreat after the army, and more delighted 
still not to be attacked by the enemy during the operation, 
— so says one of their number. 

One writer on the war speaks of the engineers as grasp- 
ing "not the musket but the hammer^'''' a misleading remark, 
for not a nail is driven into the bridge at any point. 



ARMY liOAD AND BlilDGE BUILDERS. 391 

When the Army of tlie Potomac retreated from before 
Richmond in 1862 it crossed the knver Chickahominy on a 
bridge of boats and rafts 1980 feet long. This was con- 
structed by three separate working parties, employed at the 
same time, one engaged at each end and one in the centre. 
It was the longest bridge built in tlie war, of which I have 
any knowledge, save one, and that the bridge built across 
the James, below Wilcox's Landing, in 1864. This latter 
was a remarkable achievement in ponton engineering. It 
was over two thousand feet long, and the channel boats 
were firmly anchored in thirteen fathoms of water. The 
enoineers began it during the forenoon of June 14, and 
completed the task at midnight. It was built under the 
direction of General Benham for the passage of the wagon- 
trains and a part of the troops, while the rest crossed in 
steamers and ferry-boats. 

But ponton bridges were not always laid without opposi- 
tion or interference from the enemy. Perhaps tliey made 
the most stubborn contest to prevent the hiying of the 
bridges across the Rappahannock before Fredericksburg in 
December, 1862. 

The pontoniers had partially laid one bridge before day- 
light; but when dawn appeared the enemy's sharpshooters, 
who had been posted in buildings on the opposite bank, 
opened so destrnctive a fire upon them tliat they were 
compelled to desist, and two subsequent attempts to 
continue the work, though desperately made, were like- 
wise brought to naught by the deadly fire of Mississippi 
rifles. At last three regiments, the Seventh Michigan, and 
the Nineteenth and Twentieth ^Massachusetts, volunteered 
to cross the river, and drive the enemy out of cover, which 
they did most gallantly, though not without considerable 
loss. They crossed the river in ponton boats, cliarged up 
the steep bank opposite, drove out, or captured the Rebels 
holding the buildings, and in a short time the first ponton 
bridge was completed. Others were laid near by soon after. 



392 



HARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



I tliink the engineers lost more men here — I mean now in 
actual combat — than in all their previous and subsequent 
service combined. 

Ponton bridges were a source of great satisfaction to the 
soldiers. The}^ were perfect marvels of stability and steadi- 
ness. No swaying motion was visible. To one passing 
across with a column of troops or wagons no motion was 
discernible. It seemed as safe and secure as mother earth, 



and the army walked them 
confidence as if they were, 
while my company was cross- 
on the bridge laid at Point 
Webster Atkinson, a can- 
about six feet and a quarter 
luw, he was afterwards mor- 
Hatcher's Run, — being well- 
fatigue of the all-night march 
walked off the bridge. Fur- 



with the same serene 
I remember one nigiit 
ing the Appomattox 
of Rocks that D. 
noneer, who stood 
in boots — dear fel- 
tally wounded at 
nigii asleep from the 
we were undergoing, 
tunately for him, he 




POPLAR GROVE CHURCH. 



stepped — not into four or five fathoms of water, but — 
a ponton. As can readily be imagined, an unexpected 
step down of two feet and a half was quite an "eye- 



ARMY ROAD AND BRIDGE BUILDERS. 



393 



opener "' to him, but, barring a little lameness, he suffered no 
harm. 

The engineers, as a whole, led an enjoyable life of it in 
the service. Their labors were quite fatiguing \vhile they 
lasted, it is true, but they were a privileged class when com- 
pared with the infantry. But they did well all that was 
required of them, and there was no tiner body of men in the 
service. 

The winter-quarters of the engineers were, perhaps, the 
most unique of any in the army. In erecting them they 
gave their mechanical skill full play. Some of their officers' 
quarters were marvels of rustic design. The houses of one 
regiment in the winter of '63-4 were fashioned out of the 
straight cedar, which, being undressed, gave the settlement 
a quaint but attractive and comfortable appearance. 

Their streets were corduroyed, and they even boasted 
sidewalks of similar construction. Poplar Grove Church, 
erected by the Fiftieth New York Engineers, a few miles 
below Petersburg, in 1864, still stands, a monument to their 
skill in rustic desio-n. 




CHAPTER XXI. 

TALKING FLAGS AND TORCHES. 

" Ho! my comrades, see the signal 
Waving tlirougli the sky; 
Re-euforcements now appearing, 
Victory is nigh." 



ES, there were Hags in the army 
which talked for the soldiers, 
and I cannot furnish a more 
entertaining chapter than one 
which will describe how they 
did it, when they did it, and 
what they did it for. True, 
all of the flags used in tlie 
service told stories of their own. 
What more eloquent than '' Old 
Glory," with its thirteen stripes, 
reminding us of our small be- 
ginning as a nation, its blue 
field, originally occupied by 
the cross of the English flag when Washington first gave 
it to the breeze in Cambridge, but replaced later by a 
cluster of stars, which keep a tally of the number of 
States in the Union ! What wealth of history its subse- 
quent career as the national emblem suggests, making it 
almost vocal with speech ! . The corps, division, and brigade 
flags, too, told a little story of their own, in a manner 
already described. But there were other flags, whose sole 
business it was to talk to one another, and the stories they 
told were immediatelj'' written down for the benefit of the 

394 




TALKING FLAGS AND TORCHES. 395 

soldiers or sailors. These flags were Signal flags, and the 
men who used them and made them talk were known in 
the service as the Signal Corps. 

What was this corps for? Well, to answer that question 
at length would make quite a story, but, in brief, I may say 
that it was for the purpose of rapid and frequent com- 
munication between different portions of the land or naval 
forces. The army might be engaged with the enemy, 
on the march, or in camp, yet these signal men, with 
their flags, were serviceable in either situation, and in the 
former often especially so ; but I will begin at the begin- 
ning, and present a brief sketch of the origin of the Signal 
Corps. 

The svstem of signals used in botli armies during the 
Rebellion originated with one man — Albert J. Myer, 
who was born in Newburg, N. Y. He entered the army 
as assistant surgeon in 1854, and, while on duty in New 
Mexico and vicinity, the desirability of some better method 
of rapid communication than that of a messenger impressed 
itself upon him. This conviction, strengthened by his 
previous lines of thought in the same direction, he 
finally wrought out in a system of motion telegraphy.* 

Recognizing to some extent the value of his system. Con- 
gress created the position of Chief Signal Officer of the 
array, and Surgeon Myer was appointed by President 
Buchanan to fill it. Up to some time in 1863 Myer was 
not the Chief Signal Officer alone, but the only signal 
officer commissioned as such, all others then in the corps — 
and there were quite a number — being simply acting signal 
officers on detached service from various regiments. 

One of the officers in the regular army, whom Surgeon 

* These facts are taken from a small pamphlet written bj' Lieutenant J. 
Willard Brown of West Medford, Mass., and issued by the Signal Corps 
Association. Other facts pertaining to signalling have been derived from 
"A Manual of Signals," written by General Myer (Old Probabilities) him- 
self, since the war. 



396 



IIABI) TACK AND COFFEE. 



Myer had instructed in signalling while in New Mexico, 
went over to the enemy when the war broke out and organ- 
ized a corps for them. 

From this small beginning of one man grew up the Signal 
Corps. As soon as the value of the idea had fairly pene- 
trated the brains of those whose appreciation was needed to 
make it of practical value, details of men were made from 
the various regiments around Washington, and placed in 
camps of instruction to learn the use of the " Signal Kit," 
so called. The chief article in this kit was a series of 
seven flags, varying from two feet to six feet square. 
Three of these flags, one six feet, one four feet, and one two 
feet square, were white, and had each a block of red in 
the centre one-third the dimensions of 
the flag ; that is, a flag six feet square 
had a centre two feet square ; two flags 
were black with white centres, and two 
were red with white centres. When the 
flags were in use, they were tied to a 
staff, whose length varied with the size 
fcjK of the flag to be used. If the distance 

nl^ to signal was great, or obstructions in- 

tervened, a long staff and a large flag 
were necessary; but the four-foot flag 
was the one in most common use. 

It will be readily inferred that the lan- 
guage of these flags was to be addressed 
to the eye and not the ear. To make 
that language plain, then, they must be 
distinctly seen by the persons whom they 
addressed. This will explain why they 
were of different colors. In making sig- 
nals, the color of flag to be used depended 
upon tlie color of background against 
wliich it was to appear. For example, a white flag, even 
with its red*centre, could not be easily seen against the 




PLATE 1. 



TALKING FLAGS AND TORCHES. 



397 



sky as a background. 
Ill such a situation a 
black flag was necessary. 
With green or dark- 
colored backgrounds the 
white flag was used, and 
in fact this was the flas: 
of the signal service, 
having been used, in 
all probability, nine 
times out of every ten 
that signals were made. 
Before the deaf and 
dumb could be tausrht to 





talk, certain mo- 
tions were agreed 
upon to represent 
})articular ideas, 
letters, and fio-- 
ures. In like man- 
ner, a key, or code, 
was constructed 
wliicli interpreted 
the motions of the 
signal flag, — for 
it talked by mo- 
tions, — and in ac- 
cord with which 
the motions were 

made. Let me illustrate these motions by the accompany- 

ins: cuts. 



PLATE 3. 



398 HABD TACK AND COFFEE. 

Plate 1 represents a member of the Signal Corps in posi- 
tion, holding the flag directly above his head, the staff 
vertical, and grasped by both liands. This is the position 
from which all the motions were made. 

Plate 2 represents the flagman making the numeral " 2 " 
or the letter " i." This was done by waving the flag to the 
right and instantly returning it to a vertical position. To 
make " 1 " the flag was waved to the left, and instantly 
returned as before. See plate 3. This the code translated 
as the letter " t " and the word " the." " 5 " was made by 
waving the flag directly to the front, and returning at once 
to the vertical. 

The signal code most commonly used included but two 
symbols, which made it simple to use. With these, not only 
could all the letters of the alphabet and the numerals be 
communicated, but an endless variety of syllables, words, 
phrases, and statements besides. As a matter of fact, how- 
ever, it contained several thousand combinations of numerals 
with the significance of each combination attached to it. 
Let me illustrate still further by using the symbols "2" 
and "1." 

Let us suppose tlie flagman to make the signal for 
"1," and follow it immediately with the motion for "2." 
This would naturally be read as 12, which the code 
showed to mean O. Similarly, two consecutive waves 
to the right, or 22, represented the letter N, Three waves 
to the right and one to the left, or 2221, stood for the 
syllable tio7i. So by repeating the symbols and changing 
the combinations we might have, for example, 2122, meaning 
the enemy are advancing; or 1122, the cavalry have halted; 
or 12211, three guns in position; or 1112, two miles to the 
left, — all of which would appear in the code. 

Let us join a signal party for the sake of observing the 
method of communicating a message. Such a party, if 
complete, was composed of three persons, viz., the signal 
officer (commissioned) in charge, with a telesco[)e and field- 



TALKING FLAGS AND TORCHES. 399 

glass ; the flagman, with his kit, and an orderly to ta.ke 
charge of the horses, if the station was only temporary. 
The point selected from which to signal must be a command- 
ing position, whether a mountain, a hill, a tree-top, or a 
house-top. The station having been attained, the flagman 
takes position, and the officer sweeps the horizon and inter- 
mediate territory with his telescope to discover another 
signal station, where a second officer and flagman are 
posted. 

Having discovered such a station, the officer directs his 
man to ''call" that station. This he does by signalling the 
number of the station (for each station had a number), re- 
peating the same until his signal is seen and answered. It 
was the custom at stations to keep a man on the lookout, 
with the telescope, for signals, constantly. Having got the 
attention of the opposite station, the officer sends his mes- 
sage. The flagman was not supposed to know the import of 
the message whicli he waved out with his flag. The officer 
called the numerals, and the flagman responded with the 
required motions almost automatically, when well practised. 

At the end of each word motion " 5 " was made once ; at 
tlje end of a sentence "55"; and of a message "555." 
There were a few words and syllables which were conveyed 
by a single motion of the flag ; but, as a rule, the words had 
to be spelled out letter by letter, at least by beginners. 
Skilled signalists, however, used many abbreviations, and 
rarely found it necessary to spell out a word in full. 

So much for the manner of sending a message. Now let 
us join the party at the station where tiie message is being 
received. There we simply find the officer sitting at his tele- 
scope reading the message being sent to him. Should he 
fail to understand any word, his own flagman signals an 
interruption, and asks a repetition of the message from the 
last word understood. Such occurrences were not frequent, 
however. 

The services of the Signal Corps were just as needful and 



400 HARD TACK AJS^D COFFEE. 

valuable by night as in daylight ; but, as the flags could not 
then talk understandingly, Talkiiig Torches ^vel•e substituted 
for them. As a ■• point of reference " ^yas needful, by wliich 
to interpret the torch signals made, the flagman lighted a 
"foot torch,"' at ^yhich he stood firmly ^vhile he signalled 
with the "flying torch."' This latter was attached to a staff 
of the same length as the flagstaff, in fact, usually the flag- 
staff itself. Tliese torches were of copper, and filled with 
turpentine. At the end of a message the flying torch was 
extinguished. 

The rapidity with which messages were sent by experi- 
enced operators was something w^onderful to the uneducated 
looker-on. An ordinary message of a few lines can be sent 
in ten minutes, and the rate of speed is much increased 
where officers have worked long together, and understand 
each other's methods and abbreviations. 

Signal messages have been sent twenty-eight miles: but 
that is exceptional. The conditions of the atmosphere and 
the location of stations were seldom favorable to such long- 
distance signalling. Ordinarily, messages were not sent more 
than six or seven miles, but there were exceptions. Here is 
a familiar but noted one: — 

In the latter part of September, 1864, the Rebel army 
under Hood set out to destroy the railroad communications 
of Sherman, who was then at Atlanta. The latter soon 
learned that Allatoona was the objective point of the enemy. 
As it was only held by a small brigade, whereas the enemy 
was seen advancing upon it in much superior numbers, Sher- 
man signalled a despatch from Vining's Station to Kenesaw, 
and from Kenesaw to Allatoona, wdience it was again sisr- 
nailed to Rome. It requested General Corse, w'ho was at tlie 
latter place, to hurry back to the assistance of Allatoona. 
Meanwhile, Sherman was propelling the main body of his 
army in the same direction. On reacliing Kenesaw, " the 
signal officer reported," says Sherman, in his Jlemoirs, "that 
since daylight he had failed to obtain any answer to his call 



TALEIXG FLAGS AXD TORCHES. 401 

for Allatoona ; but while I was with him he caught a faint 
glimpse of the tell-tale flag through an embrasure, and after 
much time he made out these letters 

'C 'R" 'S" 'E' 'H" 'E* 'R' 

and translated the message ' Corse is here/ It was a source 
of great relief, for it gave me the first assurance that Gen- 
eral Corse had received his orders, and that the place was 
adequately garrisoned." 

General Corse has informed me that the distance between 
the two signal stations was about sixteen miles in an air 
line. Several other messages passed later between these 
stations, among them this one, which has been often re- 
ferred to : — 

At.latooxa, Georgia. Oct. 6, 1864 — 2 p. m. 
Captain L. M. D.wtox. Aide-de-Camp ; — 

I am short a cheek-bone and an ear, but am able to whip all h— 1 yet. My 
losses are heavy. A force moving from Stilesboro to Kingston gives me 
some anxiety. Tell me where Sherman is. 

Joiix 'SI. Coi'vSE, Brigadier-General. 

The occasions which called the Signal Corps into activity 
were various, but they were most frequently employed in 
reporting the movements of troops, sometimes of the Union, 
sometimes of the enemy. They took post on elevated sta- 
tions, whether a hill, a tall tree, or the top of a building. 
Any position from which they could command a broad view 
of the surrounding country was occupied for their purpose. 
If nature did not always provide a suitable place for look- 
out, art came to the rescue, and signal towers of considerable 
height were built for this class of workers, who, like the 
cavalry, were the "eyes"' of the army if not the ears. I 
remember several of these towers which stood before Peters- 
burg in 1864. They were of especial use there in observing 
the movements of troops within the enemy's lines, as they 
stood, I should judge, from one hundred to one hundred 
and fifty feet high. Although these towers were erected 



402 



UARD TACK AND COFFEE. 



somewhat to the rear of the Union main lines, and were a 
very open trestling, the}' were j^et a conspicuous target for 
the enemy's long-range guns and mortar-shells. 

Sometimes the nerve of the flagman was }nit to a very 
severe test, as he stood on the summit of one of these frail 
structures waving his flag, his situation too like that of Ma- 
homet's coffin, while the Wliit- 
wortli bolts whistled sociably by 
him, saying, " Where is he ? 
Where is he ? " or, by another 
interpretation, "Which one''' 
Which one?" Had one of these 
bolts hit a corner post of the 
lookout, the chances for the flag- 
man and his lieutenant to reach 
the earth by a new route would 
have been favorable, although the 
engineers who built them claimed 
that with three posts cut away the 
tower would still stand. But, as 
a matter of fact, I believe no shot 
ever seriously injured one of the 
towers, though tons weight of iron 
must have been hurled at them. 
The roof of the Avery House, be- 
fore Petersburg, was used for a 
signal station, and the shells of the 
enemy's guns often tore through 
below much to the alarm of the signal men above. 

Signalling was carried on during an engagement between 
different parts of the army. By calling for needed re-enforce- 
ments, or giving news of their approach, or requesting am- 
munition, or reporting movements of the enemy, or noting 
the effects of shelling, — in these and a hundred kindred 
ways the corps made their services invaluable to the troops. 
Sometimes signal officers on shore communicated with others 




SIGNAL TREE-TOP. 



TALEING FLAGS AND TOECIIES. 



403 



on shipboard, and, in one instance, Lieutenant Brown told 
me tliat throngh the information he imparted to a gunboat 
off Suffolk, in 1863, regarding the effects of the shot which 
were thrown from it, General Longstreet had since written 
him that the fire was so accurate he was compelled to with- 
draw liis troops. The sig- 
nals were made from the 
tower of the Masonic Hall 
in Suffolk, whence they were 
taken np by another signal 
party on the river bluff, and 
thence communicated to the 
gunboat. 

Not long since. General 
Sherman, in conversation, 
alluded to a correspondent 
of the New York '' Herald " 
whom he had threatened to 
hang, declaring that had he 
done so his " death would 
have saved ten thousand 
lives." The relation of this 
anecdote brings out another 
interesting pliase of signal- 
corps operations. It seems 
that one of our signal offi- 
cers had succeeded in read- 
ing; the siOTal code of the 

enemy, and had communicated the same to his fellow-offi- 
cers. With this code in their possession, the corps was 
enabled to furnish valuable information directly from Rebel 
headquarters, by reading the Rebel signals, continuing to do 
so during the Chattanooga and mucli of the Atlanta cam- 
paign, when the enemy's signal flags were often plainly 
visible. Suddenly this source of information was completely 
cut off by the ambition of the correspondent to publish all 




A SIGNAL TOWER BEFORE PETEKS- 
BURG, VA. 



404 ^ IIAED TACK AND COFFEE. 

the news, and the natural result was the enemy changed 
the code. This took place just before Sherman's attack on 
Kenesaw Mountain (June, 1864), and it is to the hundreds 
shiughtered there that he probably refers. General Thomas 
was ordered to arrest the reporter, and have him hanged as 
a spy ; but old " Pap " Thomas' kind heart banished him to 
the north of the Ohio for the remainder of the war, instead. 

When Sherman's headquarters were at Big Shanty, there 
was a signal station located in his rear, on the roof of an old 
gin-house, and this signal officer, having the "key" to the 
enemy's signals, reported to Sherman that he had translated 
this signal from Pine Mountain to Marietta, — " Send an 
ambulance for General Polk's body," — whicli was the first 
tidings received by our army that the fighting bishop had 
been slain. He was hit by a shell from a volley of artillery 
fired by order of General Sherman. 

To the men in the other arms of the service, who saw this 
mysterious and almost continuous waving of flags, it seemed 
as if every motion was fraught with momentous import. 
" What could it all be about?" they would ask one another. 
A signal station was located, in '61-2, on the top of what 
was known as the Town Hall (since burned) in Poolesville, 
Md., within a few rods of mj^ company's camp, and, to the 
best of my recollection, not an hour of daylight passed with- 
out more or less flag-waving from that point. This particu- 
lar squad of men did not seem at all fraternal, but kept 
aloof, as if (so we thought) they feared they might, in an 
unguarded moment, impart some of the important secret 
information which had been received by tliem from the 
station at Sugar Loaf Mountain or Seneca. Since the war, 
I have learned that their ap2:)arently excited and energetic 
performances were, for the most part, only practice between 
stations for the purpose of acquiring familiarity with the 
code, and facility in using it. 

It may be thought that the duties of the Signal Corps 
were always performed in positions where their personal 



TALKING FLAGS AND TORCHES. 405 

safety was never imperilled. But such was far from the 
fact. At the battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864, a signal offi- 
cer had climbed a tall pine-tree, for the purpose of directing 
the fire of a section of Union artillery, which was stationed 
at its foot, the country being so wooded and broken that the 
artillerists could not certainly see the position of the enemy. 
The officer had nailed a succession of cleats up the trunk, 
and was on the i)latform which he had made in the top of 
the tree, acting as signal officer, when the Rebels made a 
charge, capturing the two guns, and shot tlie officer dead at 
his post. 

During the battle of Gettysburg, or, at least, while Sickles 
was contending at the Peach Orchard against odds, the 
signal men had their flags flying from Little Round Top ; 
but when the day was lost, and Hood with his Texans 
pressed towards that important })oint, the signal officers 
folded their flags, and prepared to visit other and less* dan- 
gerous scenes. At that moment,' however. General Warren 
of the Fifth Corps appeared, and ordered them to keep 
their signals waving as if a host were immediately behind 
them, which they did. 

From the important nature of the duties which they 
performed, the enemy could not look upon them with very 
tender regard, and this fact they made apparent on every 
opportunity. Here is an incident which, I think, has never 
been published : — 

When General Nelson's division arrived at Shiloh, Lieu- 
tenant Joseph Hinson, commanding the Signal Corps at- 
tached to it, crossed the Tennessee and reported to General 
Buell, after which he established a station on that side of 
the river, from which messages were sent having reference 
to the disposition of Nelson's trooj^s. The crowd of strag- 
glers (presumably from Grant's army) was so great as to 
continually obstruct his view, and in consequence he pressed 
into service a guard from among the stragglers themselves 
to keep his view clear, and placed his associate, Lieutenant 



406 IIAHT) TACK AND COFFEE. 

Hart, ill charge. Presently General Grant himself came 
riding up the bank, and, as luck would have it, came into 
Lieutenant Hinson's line of vision. Catching sight of a cav- 
alry boot, without stopping to see who was in it, in his impa- 
tience, Lieutenant Hart sang out : " Git out of the way there ! 
Ain't you got no sense ? " Whereupon Grant very quietly 
apologized for his carelessness, and rode over to the side of 
General Buell. When the lieutenant found he had been 
addressing or "dressing"' a major-general, liis confusion can 
be imagined. (See frontispiece). 

One more incident illustrating the utility of signalling 
will close the chapter : — 

After arriving before Fort McAllister, General Slierman 
sent General Hazen down the right bank of the Ogeechee to 
take the fort by assault, and himself rode down the left 
bank to a rice plantation, where General Howard had es- 
tablished a signal station to overlook the river and watch 
for vessels. The station was built on the top of a rice-mill. 
From this point the fort was visible, three miles away. Li 
due time a commotion in the fort indicated the approach of 
Hazen's troops, and the signal officer discovered a signal 
flag about three miles above the fort, which he found was 
Hazen's, the latter inquiring if Sherman was there. He was 
answered affirmatively, and informed that Sherman expected 
the fort to be carried before night. Finall}^ Hazen signalled 
that he was ready, and was told to go ahead. Meanwhile, 
a small LTnited States steamer had been descried coming up 
the river, and, noticing the party at the rice-mill, the follow- 
ing dialogue between signal flags ensued: — 

" Who are you ? " 

" General Sherman." 

" Is Fort McAllister taken ? " 

"• Not yet ; but it Avill be in a minute." 

And in a few minutes it teas taken, and the fact signalled 
to the naval officers on the boat, who were not in sight of 
the fort. 



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